Ocean Infinity to Continue Search for Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370

The proposal by Ocean Infinity, a specialist in collecting high-resolution geophysical seabed data, to continue the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been accepted by the Government of Malaysia. The search will focus initially on the zone identified by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The 'Seabed Constructor' vessel is now close to the search area, which will enable work to commence imminently. The project is expected to last for 90 days.

Ocean Infinity will take on the economic risk of the renewed search, only receiving payment if the aircraft wreckage is located.

Commenting on the announcement, Ocean Infinity’s CEO, Oliver Plunkett said his company is pleased that their offer to continue the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been accepted by the Government of Malaysia. Whilst there can be no guarantees of locating the aircraft, Ocean Infinity believes their system of multiple autonomous vehicles working simultaneously is well suited to the task at hand. Plunkett added he wishes the team the best of luck in their endeavours and said he sincerely hopes that they will be able to play a part in providing some answers to the many people affected by this tragedy.

Free flying AUVs

Ocean Infinity can use up to eight Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), capable of operating in water depths from 5 meters to 6,000 meters. The AUVs are “free flying”, which means they will not be tethered to the offshore vessel during operations. The ability to operate untethered independent missions allows the AUVs to go deeper and collect higher quality data, making this technology ideal for the search.

The AUVs will be equipped with side scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler, HD camera, conductivity/temperature/depth sensor, self-compensating magnetometer, synthetic aperture sonar and a turbidity sensor.