Last Friday was a bad day for ocean science. From National Geographic:
Deep-Sea Vehicle Nereus Lost 6 Miles Down At the Kermadec Trench north of New Zealand, researchers lost contact with the robot submersible when a catastrophic implosion apparently destroyed it. Eventually debris floating to the surface was identified as part of Nereus .
It doesn't seem all that long since the
Autonomous Benthic Explorer was lost on 5 March 2010.
Here's a statement by Ken Kostel of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Here's the homepage of Nereus, a "hybrid remotely operated vehicle" which could run autonomously or under remote control.
The community of builders and users of Nereus have my heartfelt sympathy.
All I want to say is that I didn't touch anything. Honest. Not anything important, anyway.