Promare Sends Robot to the Bottom of Puerto Rico Trench

First robot to reach bottom of 26,000 feet deep trench.

Promare Aquatic Robot

While the Curiosity was stealing all of the headlines this week. Last week Marine researchers Promare accomplished a first of their own. The culmination of a 2-1/2 year robotic underwater vehicle development effort took place on August 1st and 2nd resulting in 3 hours of video recording and the recovery of the deepest marine life ever found.

Biologists will now study in detail the high definition video and examine the retrieved samples of what appear to be a form of shrimp. The video also shows fish and what appear to be other life forms on the sea bed; all evidence of highly developed and rich bio-diversity at the bottom of the trench.

Life at the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, is about 500 miles long and some 50-125 miles north of Puerto Rico, and is more than 26,000 feet deep.

The attached photo is the first ever image of the trench floor and its inhabitants.

Gregg Cook, Chairman of PROMARE, is thrilled that “we were the first to send a robot to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench and recover images and actual marine life specimens.”