A Saab Seaeye Falcon underwater robotic vehicle will join a fleet of submersibles on the Nekton Maldives Mission to help the Maldives Government carry out the first systematic survey and sampling of the Maldives from the surface to 1000 metre depths.

As an official partner, Saab Seaeye has donated the use of a Seaeye Falcon to work alongside human-occupied submersibles, autonomous systems and research technologies.

The Maldives state is 99% ocean and 1% land, sitting on average 1.5 metres above sea level. As a result, the nation faces a growing threat from rising seas.

Saab Seaeye Falcon ROV. Credit: Saab Seaeye

For the first time, the mission will establish a ‘baseline health check’ on the status of the Maldives ocean and provide data to scientists and policy makers worldwide to enable the protection of critical nurseries, spawning habitats and related ecosystems.

The Nekton Maldives Mission, September 4 to October 7, will help create extensive new protected marine areas and ensure the ocean continues to provide for the Maldivian people.

Nekton is a not-for-profit UK-based research foundation working with the University of Oxford and a wide range of partners to accelerate the scientific exploration and protection of the ocean.

The Falcon is the world’s top robot in its class with a reliability record covering over a million hours underwater.