URI’s Inner
Space Center credited for role in discovery of data recorder for El Faro wreck
Dwight F. Coleman, director of the
University of Rhode Island’s Inner Space Center at the Graduate School of
Oceanography. Photo courtesy of Inner Space Center.
The University of Rhode Island’s
Inner Space Center won high praise from federal investigators for its
help finding the data recorder of the doomed El Faro cargo
ship.
The National Transportation Safety
Board released a transcript of audio recordings from the data recorder, which
the center helped locate in 15,000 feet of water off the Bahamas in the
Caribbean last spring.
During a news conference this
morning in Washington D.C., Christopher Hart, chairman of the NTSB, singled out
the Inner Space Center, part of the Graduate School of Oceanography, for its
“invaluable assistance’’ in the search.
He thanked the center—the only one
of its kind in the country—for installing cutting-edge telepresence technology
on the research vessel Atlantis, the Office of Naval Research ship
that conducted the search.
The center, Hart said, provided “secure, high-speed, high-volume video and data transmission from the sea floor to the Atlantis and then via satellite to NTSB headquarters for analysis while the mission was in progress.’’
Dwight F. Coleman, center director,
said he was honored to work on such an important investigation to assist in
“bringing closure to the families who lost loved ones.’’ Last April, Coleman
and his staff installed ship-to-shore telecommunications equipment on the Atlantis that
linked to NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C.
He supervised improvements to the
ship’s satellite-tracking antenna to allow video and data to stream ashore from
the autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles used in the search. He
also installed telecommunications equipment at NTSB’s headquarters to receive
the broadcasts and enable two-way communication.
“We hope to work closely with the
NTSB during future investigations that involve any kind of maritime loss,
including plane accidents,’’ said Coleman. “Our expertise can be crucial to
these types of probes, especially when you’re fighting against time.’’
The 790-foot El Faro,
loaded with shipping containers and cars, sank Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin,
a Category 4 storm, on its way from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan Puerto
Rico. All 33 crew members—28 Americans and five Polish nationals—died.
Investigators found the ship a month
later. With the help of URI and other organizations, investigators discovered
the data recorder in April and retrieved it from the ocean floor in August.
Over the last four months, the NTSB
has been examining the recordings to determine what went wrong. One crucial
finding is that the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship not long after the
main propulsion failed and flooding occurred.
URI is among a notable group of
investigators. Other organizations recognized by the NTSB for their assistance
are the U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving; the
U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command; the National Science Foundation; and the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The Inner Space Center was developed
through the efforts of marine explorer and URI Professor Robert Ballard.
Supported in part by a $14 million bond issue approved by Rhode Island voters
in 2004, the facility opened in 2010.
The center’s mission is to expand
participation in seagoing oceanographic research in real time by connecting
scientists on ships with their colleagues on shore. It’s modeled after Mission
Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The center supports the research
missions of the R/V Endeavor, a URI research vessel; the
exploration vessel Nautilus, Robert Ballard’s research ship;
and the Okeanos Explorer, which is based at Quonset Point, R.I.,
and owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The center hopes to expand its operation over the next few years.
“The El Faro project
enhanced the center’s technical capabilities for ocean exploration,’’ said
Coleman. “The more projects we do like this, the better we become at what we
do. There’s a great future in the world for the application of telepresence
technology.’’