The 113,000 citizens of Kiribati need a new home. The tiny island nation lies just two feet above sea level in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so the rising oceans caused by global warming have been catastrophic. We knew this day would come. But so soon? Terrifying. More »

One of the coolest space missions of recent time, to be carried out by Russia's Phobos-Grunt, failed last November. Now the unsuccessful probe has crash-landed in the Pacific Ocean. More »

VTOL may be old news already, but here's another great USP for any UAV: the ability to launch from a submerged submarine. The technology is still in development, but the Navy wants to try it from periscope depth during exercises in the Pacific Ocean next year. If all goes to plan, a Switchblade folding-wing drone will be ejected from the submarine's trash disposal unit and then carried to the surface by an SLV ('submerged launch vehicle'), which will keep it dry, point it into the wind and then hurl it heavenwards so it can go a-snooping. Whether the experiment succeeds or fails, we've glimpsed a worrying possibility: submarines are capable of dumping their trash right into the ocean. Until now, we sort of assumed they took it home with them.

It's not a flying fish, it's a submarine-launched UAV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon EOS 1000D washes ashore in BC, Canada, SD card reveals it was lost at sea for over a year originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As NASA prepares to launch the Curiosity rover to explore Mars at the end of the month, a small fleet of Wave Gliders, autonomous sea-faring vehicles, have set sail on an equally audacious journey—swimming unassisted across of the Pacific Ocean. More »

After the Fukushima disaster, Japan has obvious reasons for seeking out an energy alternative to replace 1/3 of its power. This so-called "fire-ice" could be drilled from the bottom of the Pacific ocean, though it's not the safest option around. More »

I love the ocean, which is one of the three reasons I love this project by David Bowen. The other two being that is technically awesome and absolutely mesmerizing. More »

Continue reading NASA commits to Orion-based Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for space exploration

NASA commits to Orion-based Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for space exploration originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 19:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From this point, looking down the Pacific Ocean, Earth still looks like a virgin jewel in space—a precious gem untouched by toxic human hands, no sign of our species' uncontrolled greed. All water, it's the true blue marble. More »

This year a research expedition sent a remotely operated vehicle 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and within ten feet of an exploding volcano. Today the first video footage from that expedition was released. Ka-boom.

Ok, maybe there's no ka-boom because there's no sound, but just looking at this video makes me imagine all that water wooshing by as everything begins to shake. Simply stunning. [Physorg]