Missions

Two saildrones spent more than 200 days surveying sandeel, saithe, and herring off the coast of Bergen in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

Five saildrones were deployed from Barbados to join the EUREC4A/ATOMIC project, a massive international effort using air, space, surface, and sub-surface platforms to improve climate models and weather prediction.

The 5th annual Arctic mission, in partnership with NOAA and NASA, took a fleet of saildrones to a new frontier—the Arctic ice edge—to improve sea ice prediction and satellite algorithm development.

The 30-day mission supported by a Saildrone Award studies the behavior and environmental influencers of small fishes, squids, and crustaceans in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

The 60-day Saildrone effort to assess stocks of Pacific hake and five coastal pelagic species was carried out in two sub-missions extending the full length of the US west coast, from San Diego to Cape Flattery.

Two saildrones equipped with acoustic receivers located 34% of the Alaska red king crabs that were tagged by NOAA Fisheries in June.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s annual experiment to investigate the diurnal vertical migration included a Saildrone USV equipped with an echo sounder.

Two Saildrone USVs are sailing from Cabo Verde to Trieste, Italy on a six-month mission to better understand ocean acidification, the global carbon budget, and the socio-economic impacts of a changing ocean ecosystem.

The first partnership between Japan’s premiere marine-earth science agency and Saildrone included missions to the reference KEO offshore buoy, a study of the Kuroshio Current, and at the site of the Tropical Pacific m-Triton buoy.

After setting the record for the fastest unmanned Atlantic crossing, SD 1021 has now completed the return journey, not only beating its own record time but also becoming the first autonomous vehicle to transit in both directions across the Atlantic Ocean.

SD 1020 survived freezing temperatures, 15-meter waves, 130 km/h winds, and collisions with giant icebergs to complete the 22,000-kilometer mission in 196 days.

Saildrone USVs have completed a series of missions to test the platform as part of the Tropical Pacific Observation System monitoring El Niño weather events in the Pacific Ocean.

Two concurrent missions will cover some 2,500 kilometers of coastline from San Diego to Vancouver Island.

Six saildrones were deployed from Dutch Harbor, AK, to survey ongoing changes in the Arctic ecosystem in partnership with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab and Alaska Fisheries Science Center and NASA.

The 2019 Sandeel and Saithe Mission will be the first European test of Saildrone USVs in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

SD 1020 is more than halfway around Antarctica, well on its way toward completing the first autonomous circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean.

A flotilla of saildrones established a new northern record for an autonomous vehicle while measuring CO2 and Arctic cod abundance in the Chukchi Sea.

Saildrone helped ECOGIG consortium researchers understand the effects of wind and current on natural oil slicks and their larger impact on the Gulf ecosystem.

How innovative autonomous technology is helping scientists to solve the mystery of northern fur seals disappearing from the remote Pribilof Islands.

The Saildrone Wing Design Contest is open everyone with additional prizes for Hong Kong residents. Generously sponsored by the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

60+ knot gusts and massive breaking waves? That’s just a typical day in the Southern Ocean.

Two centuries after the Belgica expedition became the first to survive a winter in Antarctica, Saildrone launched the first autonomous circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean.

This 30-day mission to study air-sea heat and carbon exchange in the Gulf Stream is made possible by a Saildrone Award.

The first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring this remote marine environment to the classroom.

Two Saildrone USVs launched from Bluff, NZ, January 2019. Their mission: the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica.

The 2018 West Coast Fisheries Survey combined the efforts of a NOAA research vessel and a fleet of saildrones to observe and collect data on fish and marine mammals from anchovy to humpback whales.

In the Summer of 2018, five saildrones embark on the first autonomous full West Coast fisheries survey, in collaboration with Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Oceans Canada, and the NOAA research vessel Reuben Lasker.

In January 2019, two saildrones departed New Zealand on an epic journey.