ROV Argus is a deep-tow system capable of diving to
6,000 meters. Argus is mainly used in tandem with ROV
Hercules, hovering several meters above in order to provide
a bird’s-eye view of Hercules working on the seafloor. Argus
is also capable of operating as a stand-alone system for
large-scale deepwater surveys.
GENERAL
DEPTH CAPABILITY. 6,000 meters (19,685 feet),
currently limited to 4,000 meters (13,123 feet)
CABLE. 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) of 1.73 centimeter
(0.681 inch) diameter electro-optic Rochester cable,
3x #11 conductors, 4x SM fibers SIZE. 3.8 meters long ×
1.2 meters wide × 1.3 meters high (12.5 feet long ×
3.9 feet wide × 4.3 feet tall)
WEIGHT. 2,100 kilograms (4,700 pounds) in air,
1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds) in water
MAXIMUM TRANSIT SPEED. 2 knots
ASCENT/DESCENT RATE. 30 meters/minute
(98 feet/minute)
PROPULSION. Two Tecnadyne Model 1020 thrusters
for heading control
IMAGING & LIGHTING
CAMERAS
• One Insite Pacific Zeus Plus high-definition camera with
Ikegami HDL-45A head and Fujinon HA 10 × 5.2 lens,
1080i SMPTE 292M output format, 2 megapixel still
image capable on tilt platform
• Three utility cameras (fixed mounted) 480 line
NTSC format
• One DeepSea Power & Light Wide-i SeaCam, downward
looking standard definition camera (fixed mounted)
LIGHTING
• Three CathX Aphos 16 LED lampheads,
28,000 lumens each
• Two DeepSea Power & Light 250 Watt
incandescent lights
VEHICLE SENSORS & NAVIGATION
SYSTEM. NavEst integrated navigation system solution
USBL NAVIGATION. Sonardyne Ranger 2
PRIMARY HEADING. Crossbow high-resolution magnetic
motion and attitude sensor
PRESSURE SENSOR. Paroscientific Digiquartz 8CB series
ALTIMETER. Benthos PSA-916
FORWARD-LOOKING SONAR. Mesotech 1071,
300 kilohertz, 0.5–100 meter (1.6–328.1 feet) range
SUB-BOTTOM PROFILING SONAR. TriTech SeaKing
Parametric Sub-bottom Profiler (10–30 kilohertz)
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SUPPORT
POWER. 110 volt 60 hertz AC, 24 VDC and
12 VDC power options
DIGITAL DATA CHANNELS. Ethernet
REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE (TOWSLED) ARGUS