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Maiden dive of the new MARUM-QUEST 5000

May 9th, 2025
Maiden dive of the new MARUM-QUEST 5000
The new remotely operated vehicle MARUM-QUEST 5000 shortly before its first dive in the North Atlantic. Credit: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Schröder

The new remotely operated diving robot MARUM-QUEST5000 has dived for the first time. The dive took place as part of the ship expedition M210 from on board the research vessel METEOR in the Atlantic. If all technical requirements are met in time and the weather cooperates, the dives will be streamed live.

The hydrothermal field Menez Gwen was the target location of the first dive of the ROV MARUM-QUEST 5000 at a water depth of about 830 meters. During the dive, which lasted several hours, the team successfully tested the system, took samples and documented everything.

During expedition M210 of the METEOR, geochemical and biological samples will be taken from hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic. The cruise follows on thematically from expedition M190, which also took the scientific team to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The expedition will also deliver important results within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence "Ocean Floor—Earth's Uncharted Interface," which is based at MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen.

The new diving robot replaces the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) MARUM-QUEST 4000 after more than twenty years of operation. It was manufactured by the US company TechnipFMC Schilling Robotics and upgraded with the necessary scientific equipment at MARUM for two years before its first deployment.

In addition to a significantly higher payload capacity and state-of-the-art control technology, the new ROV is equipped with more powerful gripper arms and a hydraulic drive. This means that observatories can also be transported into the deep sea and serviced there in the future.

The new device can now be used for a variety of high-precision scientific investigations at depths of up to 5,000 meters.

The costs for the new diving robot, including the supply cable and winch, amount to around 4.5 million euros, half of which was provided by the federal government and half by the state of Bremen.

More information:
M210 and M190 expeditions and MARUM-QUEST5000:

https://www.marum.de/en/M210.html

https://www.marum.de/en/StartM190.html

https://www.marum.de/en/ROV-MARUM-QUEST-5000.html

Provided by MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Citation: Maiden dive of the new MARUM-QUEST 5000 (2025, May 9) retrieved 30 May 2025 from https://sciencex.com/wire-news/508226115/maiden-dive-of-the-new-marum-quest-5000.html
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