The captain is siting in Southampton and the ship is off the coast of California. The captain wants to get the ship somewhere a bit faster, so she presses a button that sends a satellite message to the ship. The ship’s computer then reads this and gets more power from the engines so the propellors spin faster and the ship speeds up.
Living and working on a ship is hard work! The crew may be away from their family and friends for long periods of time. The sea is a powerful environment with big waves, strong winds and powerful tides, so working at sea can sometimes be dangerous. If something goes wrong, there is no fire brigade or ambulance to call to help out. By operating the ships from land, we remove these difficulties for humans aboard a ship.
We have different remotely operated ships for different types of missions. The smallest is just eight meters long, and the largest is 78 meters long! This allows us to venture into the Arctic Circle in temperatures of negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit or into the Arabian Gulf at 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of our ships are even built to be able to operate in ice. Others are built to be light and able to go in shallow waters, while others have a big deck for cool bits of robotic equipment.
