Posted on 06/06/2014 10:06:22 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Like an underwater Iron Man, a diver will fly around the wreck of an ancient Greek ship later this year, looking to shed light on the Antikythera mechanism
THE world's most advanced robotic diving suit is getting ready to help search for one of the world's oldest computers.
Called Exosuit, the suit has a rigid metal humanoid form with Iron Man-like thrusters that enable divers to operate safely down to depths of 300 metres (see photo).
Though designed for diving in the bowels of New York City's water treatment plants, earlier this month it underwent its first trials in seawater at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts. The tests are readying the suit for a daring attempt to excavate an ancient Roman shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea. A century ago, divers pulled the world's oldest computer – the Antikythera mechanismMovie Camera – from the wreck. They are hoping that they will find a second device when they go down in September.
Marine archaeologists normally wear scuba gear to explore underwater sites in person, but the time that divers can spend at depth is limited by the dangers of decompression sickness, or the bends. For deep wrecks, researchers rely on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) carrying cameras and sonar to scan an area, or large and expensive craft like the Alvin submarine that explored the wreck of the Titanic in 1986.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
I wanted to read the article, so I went to the link. It lets me read the first page, but when I click on the link to page two, nothing happens!
“Though designed for diving in the bowels of New York City’s water treatment plants...”
So by donning the suit you are transformed into (duh-duh-duh-duhhh): SEWER MAN!
Could come in handy at Obama press conferences.
Why bother, it’s probably got a virus.
Norton and the boys used to play poker down in the sewer. All the wet cards were wild.
That really looks like the drawings for submersible suits from my 1960-1970 Popular Science magazines.
Tom Swift had one.
Works okay for me. Click on “read full article” and perhaps that will help?
More:
Despite the limitations of earlier expeditions, the treasures that were recovered at Antikythera represent some of the finest ancient Greek and Roman artefacts in existence. They tell the story of a Roman ship that foundered on the rocky shores of the island around 60 BC. The ship was laden with luxury goods, including bronze and marble statues, precious jewellery, a hoard of coins, glassware, ceramic jars – and fragments of a peculiar geared device whose importance was at first overlooked. Only in the 1950s did scholars figure out that the rusty metal pieces could be assembled into a sophisticated analogue computer for predicting astronomical events. They called it the Antikythera mechanism.
Ironically, 2000 years spent in corrosive saltwater may have been the best way to preserve these riches. Most precious objects from antiquity have been broken up or melted down over the millennia. The National Archaeological Museum in Athens has only 10 major bronze statues from Ancient Greece – and nine of them came from shipwrecks.
Foley believes that the Antikythera shipwreck still holds many secrets. A preliminary survey last year showed artefacts scattered over an area 50 metres by 10 metres, and even revealed a previously unknown shipwreck alongside the first one.
“Click on “read full article” “
Tried that! Tried every possible link, top and bottom! No luck! Will try again later.
” They tell the story of a Roman ship that foundered on the rocky shores of the island around 60 BC. The ship was laden with luxury goods, including bronze and marble statues, precious jewellery, a hoard of coins, glassware, ceramic jars”
Lloydsicus of Londonium was deeply saddened.
A 2000 year old computer? I wonder if its operating system is a better system then Window 8.
what ottbmare said (turn on cookies though)
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