Future prospects

Autonomous sampling systems and robots will play an important role in underwater technology in the near future. At present several international research programs are in preparation, whereby within one network a number of measuring systems will undertake complementary tasks. Ground supported vehicles are of particular interest for this, since these allow observations over longer time-periods.

The operation of Moving Landers in near coastal regions, e.g. in areas of high wave movement appears very promising. Specific measuring positions can be approached with the help of the vehicle without having to take changing water levels due to tidal movement into account. This is a new field of operation which could not be reached using previous methods.

Im Rahmen des Projekts NEPTUNE sollen bodengestützte Fahrzeuge eingesetzt werden, um die Biosphäre der Tiefsee über einen längeren Zeitraum gezielt beobachten zu können. Ein Schwerpunkt der Untersuchungen stellt die in der Tiefsee heimische Pflanzen- und Tierwelt dar. Es wird vermutet, dass bis zu 10 Millionen unbekannte Organismen den Tiefseeboden besiedeln.