June 22, 2012 10:36am ETRobots Join Hunt for Amelia Earhart's Plane Lockheed Electra  

Amelia Earhart was flying a Lockheed Electra airplane when she disappeared in 1937. Credit: Purdue University View full size image

U.S. Navy warships and aircraft failed to find Amelia Earhart when the pioneering female aviator vanished in the South Pacific during her second attempt to fly around the world in 1937. This summer, aviation archaeologists have enlisted the help of underwater robots to find the wreckage of Earhart's aircraft.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (or TIGHAR) suspects that Earhart's Lockheed Electra landed on a reef of the uninhabited coral atoll formerly known as Gardner Island and stayed there for several days before waves washed the aircraft over the reef's edge — perhaps enough time for the aviator and her navigator to have sent out radio distress calls. The expedition plans to deploy ship sonar and two robot submersibles to search the slope of the underwater reef for any aircraft parts.

"We will not be recovering anything on this trip," said Richard Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR. "The objective is to get imagery and photographs of what's there."

The TIGHAR expedition plans to search this underwater reef slope at Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner Island).Credit: TIGHARView full size image

The expedition is scheduled to set out aboard the Hawaiian research vessel "Ka'Imikai-o-Kanaloa" from Honolulu on July 2 — the 75th anniversary of Earhart's disappearance. Its underwater robots are capable of searching with sonar and taking black-and-white photos down to a depth of almost 5,000 feet (1,500 meters), as well as checking out sonar targets with high-definition video down to a depth of 3,300 feet (1,000 meters).

An underwater search

An eight-day journey to Nikumaroro (the former Gardner Island) will allow TIGHAR to search the underwater reef slope for approximately 10 days between July 9 and July 19. Success could pave the way for a later expedition to actually recover pieces of Earhart's aircraft.

"If there's wreckage there that can be recovered, we need to know what it is, how big it is, what it looks like, and what it's made of so we can prepare a recovery expedition that has equipment to raise whatever's there," Gillespie told InnovationNewsDaily. "And, equally as important, to conserve it."

The first step in the search relies upon the surface ship's multi-beam sonar — a device capable of mapping the seafloor at depths of almost 7 miles. An autonomous underwater vehicle called Bluefin-21 — made by Bluefin Robotics and operated by Phoenix International Holdings Inc. — can roam the shallows of the underwater reef slope as a programmed drone to help with the sonar mapping. [Navy's Flying Drone Would Launch from Submarine's Trash Disposal]

The Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle will use sonar and take pictures in the search for pieces of Amelia Earhart's plane.Credit: Bluefin RoboticsView full size image

A second step would rely more upon the torpedo-shaped Bluefin-21 to do a more focused search with its side-scan sonar while taking black-and-white pictures. The crew could recover the collected data, swap out the batteries and reprogram the robot between each six-hour search session.

The third step would try to take an up-close look at suspected aircraft parts with a high-definition video camera — a job for the remote operated vehicle  tethered to the surface ship and controlled by a human operator. The TRV 005 robot made by Submersible Systems Inc. even has manipulator arms to move objects around.

Following Earhart's trail

But all the high-tech sonar and robots will only succeed if TIGHAR's hypothesis about Earhart's location proves correct. The group has launched nine expeditions in search of Earhart's lost trail over the past 24 years.

TIGHAR analyzed old radio transmissions originally followed by U.S. Navy and Coast Guard searchers in 1937 to help narrow down the search to Nikumaroro. It also dug up old paperwork from a British colonial physician who described human bones recovered from the island — bones that belonged to a woman fitting Amelia Earhart's profile, according to modern analysis.

Several expeditions uncovered items that could have belonged to Earhart, along with signs of survival living. Such items include a jar that likely contained Dr. Berry's Freckle Ointment (Earhart was known for disliking her freckles), a hand lotion bottle marketed to women in the 1930s, and a bone-handled knife matching the description of a knife listed in Earhart's aircraft inventory. [8 Unsung Women Explorers]

to by a British expedition may show the landing gear assembly from Amelia Earhart's airplane.Credit: Jeff Glickman Photec Forensic Imaging TIGHARView full size image

The expeditions also found airplane parts in the ghost village left behind by Pacific Islanders who temporarily settled on Nikumaroro several years after Earhart's disappearance. An old woman living in Fiji — who lived as a young girl on the island — pointed to parts of the island where people had found airplane parts.

One of those locations matched a big clue — an object sticking out of the water in a British expedition photograph taken just months after Earhart's disappearance. Analysis by both TIGHAR and U.S. State Department experts suggested that the object fit the profile of Earhart's Lockheed Electra aircraft landing gear.

Making it all possible

Turning decades of sleuthing into a history-making payoff has required lots of outside help from the U.S. State Department and private companies. For instance, global delivery company FedEx has helped move 27,500 pounds of the expedition's robots and equipment by truck, ship and plane from the continental U.S. to Hawaii.

The robots and equipment will have moved about 22,000 miles by the end of the round trip — just shy of the distance covered by Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan before they vanished in their attempt to fly around the world.

"I'm sure for some people it would be a monumental move," said Virginia Albanese, CEO of FedEx Custom Critical. "For us at FedEx, this is what we do."

TIGHAR has raised almost all of the $2.2 million needed to make the expedition possible, but Gillespie vowed to go ahead with the full mission duration regardless. He pointed to Earhart as his inspiration — the aviator had to scramble for funding to repair her aircraft after it crashed during a first attempt to fly around the world.

"Future is mortgaged, but what else are futures for?" Earhart wired in a telegraph message.

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @ScienceHsu. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

机器人加入寻找埃尔哈特的飞机中

2012年6月22日上午10时36 ETRobots加入追捕埃尔哈特的飞机洛克希德Electra 埃尔哈特是飞行洛克希德·伊莱克特拉飞机，当她在1937年信贷消失：美国普渡大学查看全尺寸影像

美国海军军舰和飞机未能找到埃尔哈特在开拓女性飞行员消失在南太平洋中她第二次尝试在世界各地飞在1937年这个夏天，航空考古特地水下机器人的帮助下找到埃尔哈特的飞机残骸.

The国际集团的历史的航空器恢复（或TIGHAR）怀疑埃尔哈特的洛克希德·伊莱克特拉落在无人居住的珊瑚环礁原名加德纳岛的珊瑚礁，在那里呆了好几天之前，海浪冲刷的飞机在珊瑚礁的边缘＆mdash;也许有足够的时间对飞行员和她的航海家发出了无线电求救信号。探险队计划部署舰船声纳和两个机器人潜水器搜索水下暗礁任何飞机部件.

u0026 QUOT的斜率;在此之旅，我们将不恢复任何东西，＆QUOT;理查德说吉莱斯皮，TIGHAR的执行董事。 ＆QUOT;我们的目标是让图像和一个什么样的存在照片＆QUOT;

的TIGHAR探险计划，这个搜索到Nikumaroro（原加德纳岛）这个水下暗礁坡.Credit：TIGHARView原图

探险队计划设置了这艘夏威夷研究船＆QUOT; Ka'Imikai邻Kanaloa＆QUOT;从檀香山7月2日＆mdash;埃尔哈特的失踪75周年。它的水下机器人能够搜索声纳和采取黑色和白色的照片到几乎5000英尺（1,500米），深度以及检查出的高清视频声纳目标下降到3300英尺的深度（千米）.

水下搜索

八天的旅程Nikumaroro（前加德纳岛）将使TIGHAR搜索水下礁石斜坡10天左右7月9日和7月19日之间的成功可能铺平道路后来远征实际收回埃尔哈特的飞机.

u0026 QUOT件;如果有残骸有没有可以恢复，我们需要知道它是什么，它??有多大，是什么样子，什么它是由，所以我们可以准备恢复远征，有设备，以提高不管在那里，＆QUOT;吉莱斯皮说InnovationNewsDaily。 ＆QUOT;而且，同样重要的是，保护它＆QUOT;

在搜索的第一步依赖于水面舰艇的多波束声纳＆mdash;能够在水深几乎7英里绘制海底的设备。一个自治水下机器人叫做蓝鳍-21＆mdash;由蓝鳍机器人制作和凤凰国际控股有限公司＆mdash操作;可以漫游水下礁石斜坡的浅滩作为编程的无人驾驶飞机，以帮助声纳映射。 [海军的飞行无人机将从潜艇的垃圾处理启动Navy's Flying Drone Would Launch from Submarine's Trash Disposal在鱼雷形蓝鳍-21做了侧扫声纳更有针对性的搜索，同时采取黑色和白色的照片。船员可以恢复收集到的数据，换出电池并重新编写每6个小时的搜索会话.

第三步的机器人将试??图采取近距离看可疑飞机零部件采用了高清晰度视频摄像机和mdash ;工作远程操作车辆NBSP;束缚于所述表面的船和由操作人员控制。该TRV 005机器人通过潜水系统公司取得甚至有操纵臂移动物体周围.

继埃尔哈特的踪迹

但是，所有的高科技声纳和机器人如果TIGHAR的假说埃尔哈特的位置，证明正确才能成功。该集团已在过去24年.

TIGHAR分析老无线电传输最初其次是美国海军和海岸警卫队的搜索在1937年，以帮助缩小搜索Nikumaroro推出9探险寻找埃尔哈特的失去踪迹。它也挖出了旧文书工作从谁形容从岛上＆mdash恢复人体骨骼是英国的殖民地医生;骨骼属于一个女人装修埃尔哈特的个人资料，根据现代分析.

查获的物品数次远征，可能有属于埃尔哈特，随着生存生活的迹象。这些项目包括一个罐子是可能包含贝里博士的祛斑膏（埃尔哈特被称为为不喜欢她的雀斑），一个洗手液瓶销售给妇女在20世纪30年代，和骨柄刀匹配的刀埃尔哈特的飞机中列出的说明库存。 [8幕后女探险家8 Unsung Women Explorers太平洋岛民谁埃尔哈特失踪后，暂时定居在Nikumaroro几年。一个老妇住在斐济＆mdash;谁住作为一个年轻的女孩在岛上＆mdash;指出，部分岛屿，人们发现飞机零部件.

其中的一个位置匹配的一大线索＆mdash;一个物体伸出来的水在埃尔哈特的失踪几个月之后拍摄的英国探险队的照片。分析这两个TIGHAR和美国国务院专家建议，对象符合埃尔哈特的洛克希德·伊莱克特拉飞机起落架的轮廓.

使这一切成为可能

谈到几十年的侦探变成了创造历史的回报也需要大量的来自外界的帮助美国国务院和私营公司。例如，全球快递公司联邦快递已帮助移动27500磅远征的机器人和设备通过卡车，轮船和飞机从美国大陆的夏威夷.

机器人和设备往返年底将陆续22,000英里之外＆mdash;只是害羞覆盖埃尔哈特和她的导航员弗雷德·努南前，他们在试图飞到世界各地的.

u0026 QUOT消失的距离，我敢肯定，对一些人来说这将是一个巨大的举动，＆QUOT;说弗吉尼亚艾博年，联邦快递自定义关键的首席执行官。 ＆QUOT;对于我们来说，在联邦快递，这是我们做什么和QUOT;

TIGHAR已经提出了几乎所有需要做的探险可能的$ 220万美元，但吉莱斯皮发誓不管用全任务期间继续前进。他指出，埃尔哈特为他的创作灵感和mdash;该飞行员不得不争抢资金来修复她的飞机后，首次尝试在世界各地.

u0026 QUOT飞行时坠毁，未来抵押的，但什么是期货＆QUOT？;埃尔哈特在有线电报消息.