WHOI Alvin: Deep-diving sub cleared to return to service

Artist's rendition of the newly upgraded Alvin, showing its improved interior layout. 

Credit: E. Paul Oberlander, WHOI

After a three-year overhaul and major upgrade, the United States' deepest-diving research submersible, Alvin, has been cleared to return to work exploring the ocean's depths.

The sub has been out of service since December 2010, undergoing a major upgrade, including the replacement of its personnel sphere with a newly fabricated, larger, more capable hull.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) operates the U.S. Navy-owned sub for the National Deep Submergence Facility on behalf of a consortium of universities and research organizations conducting deep ocean research.

Steven Schulze

On Jan. 8, 2014, the Naval Sea Systems Command's (NAVSEA) Executive Director of Undersea Warfare for the Department of the Navy Steven Schulze certified that the sub could safely operate to depths of 3,800 meters, with the expectation that a certification dive to 4,500 meters will be completed later this year.

"There has been tremendous coordination between the Navy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to ensure Alvin's safety and integrity," said the Navy's Director of Advanced Undersea Integration Don Hoffer.

Don Hoffer

"Alvin is a national asset and the Navy is pleased to be a part of the team that returned the vehicle to service."

"Achieving Navy certification is a major milestone in the Alvin upgrade project, enabling the vehicle to get back to its critical mission of taking scientists to the deep sea," said WHOI Vice President for Marine Facilities and Operations Rob Munier.

Rob Munier

"This significant accomplishment is a testament to the rigorous engineering collaboration between WHOI and NAVSEA and the unwavering support of NSF.

Certification helps ensure that Alvin's excellent record of safety will continue for many decades to come."

Alvin carries a pilot and two science observers on missions that last approximately eight hours.

Certification was the final step in Stage I of the Alvin upgrade project, funded by NSF and WHOI.

The upgrade project included; 

• upgrades to major components for an increased depth rating of 6,500 meters,
•  including installation of a new, larger personnel sphere with improved interior ergonomics; 
• five viewports (instead of the previous three) to improve visibility and provide overlapping fields of view; 
• new lighting and high-definition imaging systems; new syntactic foam for buoyancy and an improved command-and-control system.; 

Upgrades also included improvements to Alvin's launch system and storage hangar onboard its support vessel, the R/V Atlantis.

The Navy certified Alvin using its Deep Submergence Scope of Certification process, reviewing the design, construction and materials used to ensure the vehicle performs as expected.

The Navy uses the same process to certify manned undersea systems for submarine rescue and submarine-based Special Operation Forces delivery systems.

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SpaceX's New Merlin 1D Rocket Engine Cleared for Private Launches

Two of SpaceX's Merlin 1D engines sit on a test stand at the company's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas.

Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX's next-generation rocket engine is ready to fly and will likely power a commercial space launch for the first time this summer, company officials announced Wednesday (March 20).

The Merlin 1D engine was judged flight-ready after firing for a total of nearly 33 minutes over the course of 28 different tests at SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas. The new engine will soon be incorporated into the company's Falcon 9 rocket, officials said.

"The Merlin 1D successfully performed every test throughout this extremely rigorous qualification program," SpaceX CEO and chief designer Elon Musk said in a statement. "With flight qualification now complete, we look forward to flying the first Merlin 1D engines on Falcon 9’s Flight 6 this year."

The Falcon 9 has flown five times to date, most recently on March 1, when it blasted the robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on California-based SpaceX's second contracted supply run for NASA. According to the company's launch manifest, flight number six will launch a Canadian communications satellite, likely in mid-June.

Company officials say the Merlin 1D will provide a big boost for the Falcon 9, which until now has been powered by Merlin 1C engines in its first stage (nine of them, hence the name).

"The Merlin 1D has a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, the best of any liquid rocket engine in history," SpaceX officials wrote in a press release Wednesday.

"This enhanced design makes the Merlin 1D the most efficient booster engine ever built, while still maintaining the structural and thermal safety margins needed to carry astronauts."

SpaceX indeed plans to launch astronauts using the Merlin 1D. The company is working on a manned version of its Falcon 9/Dragon transportation system, in the hopes of scoring a NASA contract to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.