Solar-powered boat on its way
Somewhere in the Pacific, an unmanned vessel named SeaCharger quietly motors its way towards New Zealand.
Solar-powered and largely selfautonomous, the 2.5 metre vessel has crossed most of the world’s largest ocean in its quest to get here.
If successful, it will be the world’s first unmanned surface vehicle to cross an ocean on solar power.
Having set out from California on July 27 SeaCharger should arrive in New Zealand by the end of October. Kiwi boaties should keep an eye out.
One of SeaCharger’s developers, Damon McMillan of California’s Silicon Valley, says the decision to send the vessel to New Zealand was ‘‘somewhat random’’, after it successfully made the trip from California to Hawaii.
‘‘Since the boat seemed to be in good condition when it arrived in Hawaii, and since I didn’t want to pay to ship it back home in a crate, I chose to put it back in the water to see if it could make it to the other side of the Pacific,’’ McMillan says.
SeaCharger’s route is preprogrammed, meaning it can selfnavigate without further human input. Should it need to change course to avoid obstacles, such as ships or reefs, it can be controlled remotely via satellite.
‘‘The boat sends position and status updates over a satellite modem, typically every four hours,’’ McMillan says.
‘‘I don’t get up in the middle of the night to check on it unless it’s near the shore or an obstacle such as a reef, but I do actively monitor it during the day.’’
With no driver, SeaCharger is a rare sight in the water, and McMillan has a message for boaties.
‘‘SeaCharger is made out of foam and fiberglass, is about 2.5 meters long and about 30kg. If you happen to see it, don’t pick it up, and please don’t run it over.’’
The nearly 11,000km trip hasn’t been without a hitch, but no problems have been ‘‘catastrophic’’, McMillan says.
‘‘When SeaCharger was first launched from California, a software bug related to navigation forced it back to shore after just a few hours.’’
McMillan says there is currently ‘‘an explosion of autonomous vehicle activity’’ in the oceans. He says its applications are almost limitless, including monitoring ocean pollution. To track its journey to New Zealand, visit seacharger.com.