page_title: Nereus (underwater vehicle)
hierarchical_section_title: Nereus (underwater vehicle)
caption_attribution_description: English: A team recovers the hybrid robotic vehicle Nereus aboard the research vessel Cape Hatteras during a partially NASA-funded expedition to the Mid-Cayman Rise in October 2009. A search for new hydrothermal vent sites along the 110-kilometer-long ridge, the expedition featured the first use of Nereus in "autonomous," or free-swimming, mode. Image credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
context_page_description: Nereus was a hybrid unmanned autonomous underwater vehicle built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Constructed as a research vehicle to operate at depths of up to 11,000 metres, it was designed to explore Challenger Deep, the deepest surveyed point in the global ocean. Nereus, named for Greek sea titan Nereus through a nationwide contest of high school and college students, began its deep sea voyage to Challenger Deep in May 2009 and reached the bottom on May 31, 2009.
  On this dive the Nereus reached a depth of 35,768 feet, making the Nereus the world's second-deepest-diving vehicle in operation at the time, and the first since 1998 to explore the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean known.
  On 10 May 2014, Nereus was lost while exploring the Kermadec Trench at a depth of 9,900 metres. Communications were cut off at around 2 p.m. local time, and debris retrieved later revealed that it imploded due to high pressure.
context_section_description: Nereus was a hybrid unmanned autonomous underwater vehicle (HROV, a type of remotely operated underwater vehicle) built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Constructed as a research vehicle to operate at depths of up to 11,000 metres (36,000 ft), it was designed to explore Challenger Deep, the deepest surveyed point in the global ocean. Nereus, named for Greek sea titan Nereus (who has a man's torso and a fish-tail) through a nationwide contest of high school and college students,  began its deep sea voyage to Challenger Deep in May 2009 and reached the bottom on May 31, 2009.
  On this dive the Nereus reached a depth of 35,768 feet (10,902 m), making the Nereus the world's second-deepest-diving vehicle in operation at the time, and the first since 1998 to explore the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean known.
  On 10 May 2014, Nereus was lost while exploring the Kermadec Trench at a depth of 9,900 metres (32,500 ft). Communications were cut off at around 2 p.m. local time, and debris retrieved later revealed that it imploded due to high pressure.
caption: Nereus
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