Asian Surveying & Mapping
Breaking News
HAL to build, market Isro’s SSLV in landmark deal
New Delhi, Jun 20: In a historic move for...
Taiwan developing space capabilities for all-weather imaging
TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan is advancing its space...
Honda hails successful test of reusable rocket as it looks to get into the space business
Tokyo — Japan's second-biggest carmaker, Honda, has successfully tested...
China’s space program provides larger platform for broader international cooperation
BEIJING -- Experts from China's manned space program said...
India To Launch $1.5 Billion Joint Earth Mission With NASA In July
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian...
Axiom-4 mission delayed again: ISRO confirms Subhanshu Shukla’s ISS spaceflight won’t launch before 22 June 2025
The Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has...
Mengzhou spacecraft for China’s moon-landing mission passes landmark test flight
China has completed the inaugural test flight of its...
Space application for ITMA Asia + CITME 2026 opens
Shanghai – Space application for the 2026 edition of...
Yanmar, Chia Tai and XAG Empower Thai Agriculture through Innovation
Bang Nam Priao District, Chachoengsao Province, Thailand – On...
bitsensing Signs MOU with IKIO Technologies to Advance AI-Based Traffic Monitoring on India’s Expressways, Highways and Municipal Areas
Backed by proven success in South Korea and Europe,...

February 20th, 2017
Fugro Announces Partnership with Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE

Fugro today announced a partnership with the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to support first round testing of the global, three-year competition, which incentivises development of rapid, unmanned and high resolution ocean mapping technologies.

Fugro’s role is to provide high resolution deepwater baseline bathymetry data over a 500 km² competition area. The company has recently collected more than 1 million km² of high resolution bathymetry data per year globally, predominantly in water depths greater than 750 metres.

Capitalising on its deepwater survey expertise, Fugro will acquire the seafloor data using state-of-the-art techniques and equipment, including a deepwater autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with sonar-based survey systems. This information will be used to ground-truth the work of 21 semi-finalist teams advancing to Round 1 of the competition. The challenge for the competing teams is to deploy their inventions to operate at 2,000 metres ocean depth, mapping 20 % of the project site at 5.0 metres resolution, and identifying at least five archaeological, biological or geological features, all within a 16-hour timeframe.

“The semi-finalist teams in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE are pushing the envelope of deep sea mapping capabilities, and we are delighted to partner with Fugro on this common goal of mapping the world’s oceans,” said Jyotika Virmani, Ph.D., prize lead and senior director of XPRIZE’s Energy and Environment Group. “Fugro’s global subsea experience ensures that we will have baseline maps of the highest standards, against which the judging panel can compare the data collected by competing teams.”

Given that 85 % of the world’s oceans is yet to be mapped using modern survey techniques, there is a lot of seabed yet to cover. “Fugro is working on a number of fronts to help close this data gap,” said David Millar, Fugro’s director of hydrographic services for the Americas. “Our partnership with the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE is especially exciting, as the competition could result in game-changing technology that will be for the benefit of industry and our understanding of the world’s oceans.”

In addition to increasing the speeds and methods by which baseline bathymetry could be acquired, the competition offers a special $1M incentive sponsored by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for systems that can also detect and track biological and chemical signals. Such advancements would improve emergency response and foster the discovery and monitoring of new marine life and underwater communities.

First round testing for semi-finalist teams is scheduled to commence in September 2017. Fugro will acquire, process and deliver the high resolution baseline datasets in advance.