DeepZoo: part 2

It has been a big week for the Meyer-Kaiser lab. My anemone experiment is going swimmingly (pun intended!); Kharis recovered CATAIN successfully in the Arctic; and Johanna has made incredible progress on DeepZoo. 

Johanna sent me this photo to celebrate that DeepZoo's housing
passed its pressure test!

Most of the DeepZoo work happens at WHOI's AVAST engineering hub, so I'm not there in person to see every step. I learn of Johanna's victories through her joyful texts and videos she sends at key moments. This week, she had two to share. First, the titanium housing that holds DeepZoo's electronics passed its pressure test! This is actually a pretty big deal, because the housing has to withstand 1100 atmospheres of pressure. DeepZoo was designed to work at all ocean depths - right down to the deepest point, the Challenger Deep. The custom full-ocean-depth housing was machined out of titanium. It's incredibly precise work, not to mention that the housing has three ports on the end caps to connect underwater cables to DeepZoo's thruster and motor-driven door. Even a minor flaw could have made the housing leak. Now that the housing has passed its pressure test, DeepZoo is a major step closer to its 11,000 m depth certification!

The other major update this week was about DeepZoo's door. To avoid contamination and keep the samples safe during ascent, Johanna worked with two WHOI engineers to design a spinning door on the front of DeepZoo. An oil-filled motor spins a gear, which spins another gear, which spins the door. It took some time to dial in the correct speed for the motor and make sure the door turns the correct amount - but Johanna patiently got it done. 

I'm proud of what she's accomplished!