VideoRay
ROV Helps NASA Listen to Fish At the Oculina Banks
VideoRay Remotely Operated Vehicle
Records Deployment of NASA’s Acoustic Monitoring System;
Validates Study of Species
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Exton, PA, May 5, 2003 – VideoRay announced today that its
VideoRay remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is being used by NASA aquatic
biologists and acoustic engineers to monitor fish populations at
the Oculina Banks, located 30 miles offshore Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The 8-pound VideoRay submersible will video-record the deployment
of NASA’s patent-pending passive acoustic monitoring system
(PAMS) and observe fish as they interact with the acoustic system.
The VideoRay has been used successfully in other fish monitoring
projects conducted by NASA.
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| Grant Gilmore, senior
aquatic biologist for NASA, holds the VideoRay while discussing
the Oculina Banks cruise with media. Photo courtesy Steve Van
Meter, NASA/Kennedy Space Center. (Click image to enlarge.) |
“The VideoRay allows us to perform ground truthing to verify
that we are indeed observing the species we intended to study,”
says NASA Robotics Specialist Steve Van Meter. “Fish are not
disturbed by the VideoRay as they are with divers. This kind of
observation is ideal for the VideoRay.” Van Meter used the
VideoRay to study the Goliath Grouper as the PAMS captured unprecedented
sounds of the fish.
During the mission, the VideoRay will at times be attached to
a larger ROV, a Phantom IIS. The Phantom will transport the VideoRay
to the depths of the Bank and video-record the Phantom’s underwater
activity. The VideoRay will be used on board the M/V Liberty Star,
a National Aeronautics & Space Administration space shuttle
support ship used primarily to retrieve spent solid rocket boosters.
The expedition website, produced by Project Oceanica, can be found
by visiting http://oceanica.cofc.edu/
and clicking on "Oculina Coral Banks 2003.”
For comments from NASA, contact Steve Van Meter,
Hazardous Duty Robotics Specialist, NASA/Kennedy Space Center, FL,
PH: 321-867-7287; email: steven.vanmeter-1@ksc.nasa.gov
For photos of VideoRay, visit http://www.videoray.com/Press_Room/photo_gallery.htm.
Contact VideoRay LLC • 400 Eagleview Blvd.
• Exton, PA 19341 USA • Phone: (610) 458-3000 •
FAX: (610) 458-3010 • www.videoray.com
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