The Underwater Technology Podcast

Underwater Technology Podcast - Pod15 - Bruce Butler on Theseus Under Ice

June 30, 2020 Steve Hall, Society for Underwater Technology; Bruce Butler, Engineer Season 1 Episode 15
The Underwater Technology Podcast
Underwater Technology Podcast - Pod15 - Bruce Butler on Theseus Under Ice
Show Notes

This week SUT CEO Steve Hall interviews Canadian engineer Bruce Butler about the extraordinary, and history-making, mission of the 'Theseus' autonomous underwater vehicle from ISE to lay a cable under Arctic Ice in 1996, following several years of development. See https://ise.bc.ca/product/theseus-auv/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theseus_(AUV)
In the 1990s Canada and the USA needed to find a way to attach fibre optic cable to monitoring equipment located under the sea ice of the Canadian Arctic - the innovative solution found under Project Spinnaker was to develop a cable-laying autonomous underwater vehicle to unspool the delicate cable under hundreds of kilometres of ice.
In the interview Bruce outlines his career to date, and the development of Theseus, finishing with the successful mission and aftermath.
Bruce has written an excellent book 'Into the Labyrinth: The Making of a Modern Day Theseus - the book website is at http://www.theseusbook.com/ - also see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Labyrinth-Making-Modern-Day-Theseus/dp/0994953836/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= that covers the project in great detail - it's available as paperback, e-book and audiobook.
You can see a sample of Bruce's book at https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/embed?asin=B07JN6VNJ1&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_UHW-EbMQ8PYA6
Find out more about SUT at sut.org, contact Steve Hall at steve.hall@sut.org Thanks to Emily Boddy for composing and performing the theme music, and for creating the podcast artwork. Thanks to https://www.zapsplat.com/ for ocean sound effect. 

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