''Argo'' is an unmanned deep-towed undersea video camera sled developed by Dr.
Robert Ballard
Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is noted for his work in underwater archaeology (maritime archaeology and archaeology of ...
through
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
's Deep Submergence Laboratory. ''Argo'' is most famous for its role in the discovery of the
wreck of the RMS ''Titanic'' in 1985. Argo would also play the key role in Ballard's discovery of the wreck of the battleship ''
Bismarck'' in 1989.
The towed sled, capable of operating depths of 6,000 meters (20,000 feet), meant 98% of the ocean floor was within reach. The original ''Argo'', used to find Titanic, was long, tall, and wide and weighed about in air. It had an array of cameras looking forward and down, as well as
strobes and
incandescent light
An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...
ing to illuminate the ocean floor. It could acquire wide-angle film and television pictures while flying above the sea floor, towed from a surface vessel, and could also zoom in for detailed views.
See also
*
Acoustically Navigated Geological Underwater Survey
The Acoustically Navigated Geological Underwater Survey (ANGUS) was a deep-towed still-camera sled operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in the early 1970s. It was the first unmanned research vehicle made by WHOI. ANGUS was en ...
(ANGUS)
References
Oceanographic instrumentation
Unmanned underwater vehicles
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