Engineers from thyssenkrupp are planning to develop a new type of unmanned underwater vehicle in cooperation with Berlin Technical University, the University of Rostock, Atlas Elektronik and EvoLogics, called Large Modifiable Underwater Mothership (MUM).
The new vehicle will be operating autonomously and its design enables it to be customized cost-efficiently for each mission.
Furthermore, individual base modules can be combined with specific mission modules to form large systems, enabling challenging tasks to be performed quickly and easily.
MUM’s activities are varied, including operations such as payload transportation, research missions and stationary deep-sea tasks.
The unmanned vehicle can also be used in the areas of offshore energy and deep-sea mining as well as other applications, for example in maritime science.
Additionally, MUM will incorporate an emission-free and air-independent fuel cell propulsion system, thus operating efficiently in highly ecologically sensitive environments.
The new vehicle will be able to operate at depths under 5,000m for several weeks and will also have the ability to execute heavy duty tasks because of its several ton payload capacity.
The research work for the project is set to have been completed by 2020 with the full project being delivered by 2025.
