Winning ocean exploration design tool

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Five engineering students from McNeese State University will work with Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) professional engineers to build and test a reduced recoil tool for deep-sea geological sampling that could provide insights into seafloor geological processes and oceanic crust formations. Their work involved creating a durable and cost-effective improvement to a rock-chipping hammer for a remotely operated vehicle capable of working in the ocean up to 13,000 feet. The students’ winning design was the result of OET’s 2014-15 Nautilus Engineering Design Challenge sponsored by CITGO Petroleum Corp. The new tool allows OET’s Nautilus Exploration Program to study geological structures that insufficient technology was unable to recover from the seafloor. (Source: 3BL Media 03/05/15)