It’s been quiet here in the Uncanny Valley, as we stand around awkwardly in our black suits next to the buffet, finding comfort in funeral potatoes and leftover hamentashen, trying to find something to say that will alleviate the great sense of loss upon hearing of the demise of one of our own, ABE the undersea explorer, out of Wood Hole Oceanographic Institute.
ABE in happier times
Brought out of retirement for an expedition off the coast of Chile, ABE, and autonomous exploratory submersible, was searching for hydrothermal vents on the sea floor when both acoustic transponders on his hull stopped responding.
Dr. Dana Yoerger, senior scientist and a member of the team who built ABE, speaking from the expedition ship Melville, said in ABE’s New York Times Obituary: “For both to die at exactly the same time means probably something very bad and very violent happened,”
Dr. Chris German, a Woods Hole senior scientist who was also in Chile with ABE at the time of the accident, soldiered on admirably, though shaken.
“You’re stuck at sea and you can’t just cry and go home,” he said. “So you figure out what’s the best you can do with what’s available.” That has involved using more conventional equipment to sample the water for other evidence of hydrothermal events, compiling data that can be used when researchers come back.”
Dr. Dana Yoerger reflects:
Dr. Yoerger said he had tried not to become too emotional about the loss of ABE, particularly given the human suffering nearby in Chile from the recent earthquake. “This is aluminum, glass and silicon,” he said. “We can build a new one.”
Still, he said, there had been some trying moments. “The most difficult one was writing the e-mails to my children and grandchildren telling them that their robotic friend was gone.”
::sniffle:: Goodspeed, ABE, tell Cthulhu “Hi” for us as your survey the streets of downtown R’Lyeh for all eternity.
[Tip of the cocktail napkin to OtherMichael]
