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A remotely operated vehicle uses a bright light to illuminate a textured vertical rock wall in the dark deep sea.

2026 ROV Shakedown

Feature

OECI On Board for Okeanos Explorer’s 2026 Field Season

May 29, 2026

Expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer are collaborative efforts. And this year, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) is lending its specialized expertise to NOAA Ocean Exploration’s field season on the ship.

Introducing the OECI

In 2026, the OECI is providing remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations and maintenance as well as telepresence, data, and video engineering and video production for expeditions aboard Okeanos Explorer. This powerful partnership unites NOAA Ocean Exploration with five premier organizations to support NOAA’s mission in ocean exploration and beyond for the benefit of the scientific community and the public. Collectively, these organizations — the University of Rhode Island (URI), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of New Hampshire, and Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) — have decades of experience managing ROV and telepresence systems on other research platforms.

Founded in 2019, the mission of the OECI is to explore, map, and characterize the nation’s vast deep-sea territory, develop and advance new technologies for ocean exploration, collect and steward ocean exploration data, and engage future generations of ocean scientists and engineers.

Making Deep-Ocean Exploration Possible

OET in partnership with Deep Exploration Solutions is leading ROV operations and maintenance, providing our access to the deep ocean. ROV Team members serve as ROV pilots/co-pilots and navigators, support ROV launch and recovery operations, and maintain and manage ROV-related mechanical, electrical, and fiber optic systems. Over the winter, the ROV Team conducted routine maintenance on the ROVs.

With ROVs Deep Discoverer and Seirios aboard the ship and back in action, the team continues to work on them, testing new capabilities requested by NOAA Ocean Exploration, including a transect camera and lasers for ecosystem evaluation and a push core for seafloor sampling.

NOAA's Deep Discoverer remotely operated vehicle is suspended over water near a ship deck with an ROV member in the foreground.

The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team practiced launch and recovery of ROVs Deep Discoverer (seen here) and Seirios while in port in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, for the 2026 ROV Shakedown. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 ROV Shakedown. Download largest version (jpg, 1.62 MB).

A crew member wears a blue hard hat while hosing down a NOAA Ocean Exploration ROV on a ship deck.

Following Dive 02 of the 2026 ROV Shakedown, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team secured the ROVs and hosed them down to dissolve and flush away salt deposits before they could cause damage. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 ROV Shakedown. Download largest version (jpg, 1.97 MB).

Enabling Communications and Data Sharing

URI’s Inner Space Center (ISC) is responsible for the Science Team’s network (i.e., telepresence and data engineering), enabling the at-sea Mission Team to communicate among themselves, monitor and control the ROVs, communicate and share data with shore-based participants, and broadcast live dives to viewers around the world. During the off season, the ISC team completely overhauled the network, taking advantage of technological advancements to increase data storage and the speed of data delivery, improve video appearance and lag time, and build a system for collecting 4K video in the future.

Documenting Discovery

Together OET and URI are providing video engineering and production to document exploration activities for scientific and educational purposes. At sea, URI’s video engineers are responsible for collecting imagery — above and below the water — and managing the associated equipment. This includes controlling the cameras on the ROVs to collect underwater imagery and serving as documentarians to record shipboard activities. On shore, OET’s video editors use this stunning imagery to produce videos to share the excitement of ocean exploration with the public and inspire and engage the next generation of explorers.

Ensuring Success

The 2026 ROV Shakedown expedition is vital to the success of the 2026 field season. It enables the OECI teams to test their systems and workflows, resolve any issues that arise, and become familiar with each other and the other key operational partners — the NOAA Ocean Exploration Mission Team and Okeanos Explorer’s officers and crew.

Researchers operate equipment and monitor multiple video feeds inside a dimly lit ship control room.

Four team members sit before a large wall of data monitors inside a dark ship control room with a digital clock.

During the 2026 ROV Shakedown, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team conducted ROV pilot training in the control room of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 ROV Shakedown. Download largest version of image 1 (jpg, 1.87 MB), Download largest version of image 2 (jpg, 1.76 MB).

The OECI will continue to support these ROV and communications systems throughout the 2026 field season and make additional upgrades during the next winter maintenance period. It’s anticipated that the strong partnership between the OECI and NOAA Ocean Exploration will lead to new discoveries that will advance ocean science and support the health, wealth, and prosperity of the nation.

A white NOAA research ship sits moored alongside a concrete pier under an overcast sky. Comment end

In 2026, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute is providing remotely operated vehicle operations and maintenance as well as telepresence, data, and video engineering and video production for expeditions aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, seen here in port in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, in advance of the 2026 ROV Shakedown. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 ROV Shakedown. Download largest version (jpg, 1.65 MB).

By Holly Pettus, NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute