Mining Robot Breaks Free from Ship and Gets Caught on the Bottom of the Pacific Ocean; Google, Samsung, Volvo, and BMW Work to Curb Sea Exploration

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 30/04/2021 at 22:34

Foto: Reprodução

Seja o primeiro a reagir!

Prototype Of A Mining Robot Broke Free From Ship And Got Stuck On The Bottom Of The Pacific Ocean

Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR), a deep-sea exploration division of DEME Group, is testing a mining robot called Patania II, which weighs 25 tons and features advanced technology. The robot is designed to collect minerals from the ocean floor and send them to the ship at the surface. However, while the company seeks to test the equipment for seafloor mining, companies such as Google, Samsung, Volvo, and BMW try to delay these actions, considering the environment.

The prototype was in testing, bringing materials to the surface for studies on the environmental impact of mining, as well as testing the equipment’s capability for large-scale exploration. The exploration machine was almost completing its testing phase when it detached from the cable that connected it to the ship, becoming stuck 4 KM underwater. A spokesperson for GSR, in contact with Reuters, highlighted that the operation for the rescue of the equipment will begin soon. The small rocks on the ocean floor are rich in cobalt and other materials widely used in batteries.

Google, Samsung, Volvo, And BMW Concerned About Sea Mining

The tests are also seen as an opportunity for study for nearly 30 European institutions that will analyze the data to verify the impact of mining on the seabed. However, global companies like Google, Samsung, Volvo, and BMW are concerned about the environmental impact of metal explorations.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Impact On The Environment

Today, the world’s leading companies are racing to electrify their productions and abandon fossil fuels. As a result, the demand for quality batteries will increase year by year, also raising the need for metals, many of which are found only on the ocean floor.

British environmentalist David Attenborough is one of the people leading actions against the exploitation of seabeds. In addition to him, companies such as Google, BMW, Volvo, and Samsung have signed a request from the World Wildlife Fund for a moratorium on seabed exploration. Sea mining should only be authorized after studies on the impacts.

These companies have committed to not purchasing metals extracted from the seabed and to completely remove them from their production chains, as well as not to fund ocean mining.

Battery Market Will Have To Adapt

Seabed exploration is highly profitable and important for the global battery market, something that directly interests large companies. The exploration can extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese, essential raw materials for creating advanced and efficient batteries.

The fact that the prototype was stranded on the ocean floor without control was viewed as a negative issue, from Greenpeace’s perspective. The organization responded to the incident as follows: “Losing control of a 25-ton mining machine on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean should permanently sink the idea of mining in the depths of the sea.”

Mining Robot Breaks Free from Ship and Gets Caught on the Bottom of the Pacific Ocean; Google, Samsung, Volvo, and BMW Work to Curb Sea Exploration

Prototype Of A Mining Robot Broke Free From Ship And Got Stuck On The Bottom Of The Pacific Ocean

Google, Samsung, Volvo, And BMW Concerned About Sea Mining

Impact On The Environment

Battery Market Will Have To Adapt

Seen from space, an image taken by an astronaut shows an unlikely oasis in the Saudi Arabian desert, protected by a terrain that slows the advance of sand, surrounded by green circles, remnants of an extinct lake and nearly 10,000 years of preserved history.

While the U.S. still faces limitations in deep space, China is developing unprecedented technology with strategic satellites that maintain communication with the far side of the Moon and aims for dominance by 2030.

The oldest tree in the world, alive since before the birth of Jesus Christ, is cut down in a scientific study and the case changes environmental preservation rules.

An entire island in the Pacific wants to surround itself with a colossal barrier against the ocean to try to escape increasingly violent waves and not be swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

With 7.4 trillion tons of artificial snow pumped in 10 years, an extreme operation could stabilize the West Antarctic ice sheet and prevent a sea level rise of more than 3 meters, but it would require snow cannons, ocean water, and energy on an almost industrial scale at the end of the world.

The Blood Falls of Antarctica hide a living ecosystem trapped under the ice for over 2 million years, where microbes survive without light, without oxygen, and without ever having seen the Sun.

In the Saudi Arabian desert, the world’s largest green hydrogen plant is 80% complete and will use 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy to produce 600 tons of clean fuel per day when it opens in 2027.

The world has been generating 80% of electricity by boiling water for 200 years, but China has just turned on a machine that replaces steam with supercritical CO2 and promises to jump from 33% to 50% efficiency.

At a depth of 914 meters, a team accidentally discovers a pirate ship with cannons, a telescope, and objects from three continents on the seabed, uncovering a mystery that has haunted Europe for centuries.

Brazilian producers are leaving Roraima to plant in Guyana, where the government offers land on concession and does not charge taxes, while in Brazil the harvest faces high interest rates and a bureaucracy that hinders even the use of the rivers.

Instead of digging new holes, scientists dive into an abandoned acid mine lake in Montana and discover that the toxic water has already done the work of extracting rare earths from the rock on its own.

The photo that changed airport security worldwide was accidentally taken in Sydney in 1970, when a camera inadvertently captured the fall of a teenager from the landing gear of an airplane.

Mining Robot Breaks Free from Ship and Gets Caught on the Bottom of the Pacific Ocean; Google, Samsung, Volvo, and BMW Work to Curb Sea Exploration

Prototype Of A Mining Robot Broke Free From Ship And Got Stuck On The Bottom Of The Pacific Ocean

Google, Samsung, Volvo, And BMW Concerned About Sea Mining

Impact On The Environment

Battery Market Will Have To Adapt

Seen from space, an image taken by an astronaut shows an unlikely oasis in the Saudi Arabian desert, protected by a terrain that slows the advance of sand, surrounded by green circles, remnants of an extinct lake and nearly 10,000 years of preserved history.

While the U.S. still faces limitations in deep space, China is developing unprecedented technology with strategic satellites that maintain communication with the far side of the Moon and aims for dominance by 2030.

The oldest tree in the world, alive since before the birth of Jesus Christ, is cut down in a scientific study and the case changes environmental preservation rules.

An entire island in the Pacific wants to surround itself with a colossal barrier against the ocean to try to escape increasingly violent waves and not be swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

With 7.4 trillion tons of artificial snow pumped in 10 years, an extreme operation could stabilize the West Antarctic ice sheet and prevent a sea level rise of more than 3 meters, but it would require snow cannons, ocean water, and energy on an almost industrial scale at the end of the world.

The Blood Falls of Antarctica hide a living ecosystem trapped under the ice for over 2 million years, where microbes survive without light, without oxygen, and without ever having seen the Sun.

In the Saudi Arabian desert, the world’s largest green hydrogen plant is 80% complete and will use 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy to produce 600 tons of clean fuel per day when it opens in 2027.

At 625 meters above the ground and with a span of 1,420 meters between mountains, China inaugurated the highest bridge in the world — and the 2-hour journey now takes 2 minutes.

While in Brazil a 10-story building takes 2 years to complete, in China a company stacks pre-fabricated modules and raises the entire building in just 28 hours and 45 minutes.

China inaugurates a 24 km monster that is a bridge, tunnel, and museum at the same time — and 90,000 cars pass through it every day.

New J.Macêdo factory receives an investment of R$ 300 million, expands pasta production in the Northeast, creates jobs, and boosts the economy in Ceará.

The world has been generating 80% of electricity by boiling water for 200 years, but China has just turned on a machine that replaces steam with supercritical CO2 and promises to jump from 33% to 50% efficiency.

At a depth of 914 meters, a team accidentally discovers a pirate ship with cannons, a telescope, and objects from three continents on the seabed, uncovering a mystery that has haunted Europe for centuries.

Brazilian producers are leaving Roraima to plant in Guyana, where the government offers land on concession and does not charge taxes, while in Brazil the harvest faces high interest rates and a bureaucracy that hinders even the use of the rivers.

Instead of digging new holes, scientists dive into an abandoned acid mine lake in Montana and discover that the toxic water has already done the work of extracting rare earths from the rock on its own.

The photo that changed airport security worldwide was accidentally taken in Sydney in 1970, when a camera inadvertently captured the fall of a teenager from the landing gear of an airplane.