Topic: "Unique Vehicles: Submarines that Fly"
We live on an ocean planet where 94% of life is
aquatic. Over the last twenty plus years, we have
analyzed the key limiting factors of current manned
and unmanned undersea vehicles, and engineered
solutions to overcome these limitations in order to make our oceans more accessible for exploration,
science and adventure. The Deep Flight manned vehicle project started in the late 1980's as a program
to provide a new generation of ultra-lightweight, cost- effective vehicles for science, exploration and
adventure. At Hawkes Ocean Technologies, we decided that to move efficiently through the 3-
dimensional space of the ocean territories, our submersibles had to sprout wings and fly. Additionally,
we have made a case for fixed positive buoyancy., and have now built four generations of fixed positive
buoyancy (FBP) craft that use a streamlined, minimum frontal area and wings (fins) to generate the
forces needed to overcome buoyancy for descent and for control over pitch, roll and yaw. I strongly
believe that Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) will be the mainstay of future oceanographic
commercial and scientific activity. At Hawkes Ocean Technologies, our current focus is to introduce the
next generation ROV, which incorporates new proprietary fiber-optic tether technology and high
energy-density batteries to enable range, depth, and deployment capabilities well beyond those of
current-generation ROVs. It is my hope that this new generation of manned and unmanned vehicles
we are introducing will lay a solid foundation for exploration before the inevitable exploitation of our
blue planet.
Biography:
Graham Hawkes, an internationally renowned ocean engineer/inventor, has been responsible
for the design of a significant percentage of all manned (and more than 300 remote) underwater
vehicles built for research or industry worldwide, including the Deep Flight series of winged
submersibles. With DeepFlight, Mr Hawkes has successfully introduced four generations of
ultra-lightweight, cost effective vehicles, including the 36,000 foot submersible,
DeepFlight Challenger, which was originally built for the late adventurer, Steve Fossett, and
has since been taken over by Deep Sub LLC and Virgin Oceanic. Mr. Hawkes has successfully
founded several ocean engineering/exploration companies, including Hawkes Ocean Technologies, and
is widely considered to the leader in his field. He is currently offering Flight School courses
for individuals, as well as Underwater Flight experiences for corporate retreats, and is also
building the prototype of a new generation of highly advanced Remotely Operated
Vehicle (See https://www.deepflight.com and
https://www.hawkeremotes.com).
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