A mini-sub hunting for Malaysian jet MH370 aborted its first search of the remote Indian Ocean seabed after just six hours because the water was deeper than its operating limits, officials said Tuesday.
The unmanned submarine loaded with sonar to map the ocean floor deployed Monday night from the Australian ship Ocean Shield which has spearheaded the hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8.
"After completing around six hours of its mission, Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating depth limit of 4,500 metres and its built in safety feature returned it to the surface," JACC said, without detailing the exact depth of operations.
"The six hours of data gathered by the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is currently being extracted and analysed," JACC said.
The AUV had been due to spend up to 16 hours collecting data.
US Navy Captain Mark Matthews explained the vehicle had exceeded its programmed operational limit and automatically resurfaced.
"There's certain abort criteria that the vehicle has as it's executing its mission," he told CNN from Perth.
"If there's certain conditions that occur, it stops and it comes to the surface.
"In this case the vehicle's programmed to fly 30 metres over the floor of the ocean to get a good mapping of what's beneath."
Charts put the depth at 4,200-4,400 metres, he said.
"It went to 4,500 metres and once it hit that max depth, it said this is deeper that I'm programmed to be, so it aborted the mission."
Matthews, a search and recovery expert, said the crew would now refine the task to cope with the depth encountered.
"It happend in the very far corner of the area it's searching. So they are just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water."
The US-made Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Bluefin-21 would embark on a second mission during the day, weather permitting, Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said.
AFP
Tue Apr 15 2014
This handout image from the US Navy shows operators aboard ADF Ocean Shield moving the Bluefin-21 into position. AFP Photo
Kerjasama bersepadu Persekutuan, Negeri selesai isu prasarana sekolah daif Sabah
Kerajaan Sabah akan terus menjalin kerjasama erat dengan kerajaan Persekutuan dalam usaha memberi suasana dan nafas baharu kepada prasarana sekolah di negeri itu.
Pantau Belanjawan: Tadbir Urus: ‘Spot check’ nilai prestasi penjawat awam
Semua ketua jabatan kerajaan perlu membuat semakan mengejut bagi memerhati pelaksanaan kerja kakitangan bawahan bagi memastikan tiada amalan negatif berlaku dalam jabatan masing-masing agar perkhidmatan awam kekal cekap, relevan dan berkesan. Apakah kaedah dan pendekatan terbaik untuk melaksanakan usaha ini?
Leftenan Muda Min Youn satu-satunya penuntut bangsa Cina tamat latihan Komando GGK 2024
Min Youn yang berasal dari Setapak, Kuala Lumpur itu merupakan graduan perakaunan daripada Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
Seorang maut, nahas dua kereta di Ipoh
Kemalangan melibatkan dua buah kereta iaitu jenis Honda City dan Peugeot.
Play Store kini benarkan muat turun dua aplikasi serentak
Berdasarkan laporan 9to5Google, ciri ini diberikan secara berperingkat kepada pengguna Android bermula dengan peranti\
Che'gu Bard mengaku tidak bersalah dua pertuduhan
Badrul Hisham mengaku tidak bersalah, selepas semua pertuduhan dibaca di hadapan Hakim, Siti Aminah Ghazali.
Tahanan PPA tekad jadikan kemahiran dalam “tirai besi” sebagai mata pencarian
Kehidupan di dalam tirai besi memberikan keinsafan kepada Fifi, Apit dan Bulat.
Ringgit susut berbanding dolar AS pada sesi awal
Pada 9 pagi, ringgit merosot kepada 4.7715/7810 berbanding mata wang Amerika Syarikat (AS) daripada 4.7650/7710 pada Jumaat.
Guna semula bangunan pawagam lama, bangkit suasana klasik
Ia bukan sahaja mampu menarik ramai pelancong tetapi juga mampu memulihara bangunan warisan yang masih elok dan ditatap oleh generasi kini.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: PM Anwar jumpa 50 pemimpin industri, perniagaan global
PM yakin lebih banyak pelabur bernilai tinggi akan pilih Malaysia sebagai destinasi pelaburan.
MH370: Penemuan serpihan pesawat di permukaan laut tipis, kata Abbott
Perdana Menteri Australia berkata kemungkinan penemuan serpihan pesawat MH370 di permukaan laut adalah tipis.
MH370: Taufan Jack menghampiri kawasan pencarian
Bluefin-21, kenderaan dalam air (AUV) telah menamatkan misi kelapan di kawasan pencariannya, dan dijadualkan memulakan misi kesembilannya pagi ini.
MH370: Bermulanya fasa pencarian dasar laut
Pasukan mencari dan menyelamat di Perth akan menghantar kenderaan dasar laut Bluefin-21 ke dalam Lautan Hindi secepat mungkin.