Patania II Robotic Deep-Sea Mining Machine is Currently Stranded in Pacific Ocean: Should It Continue Extracting Metals?

The Patania II, a deep-sea mining machine, faced a sudden accident. Because of this, the robot is now stranded beneath the Pacific Ocean. Could this be the work of mother nature to warn people about its dangerous activities against the Earth?

The stranded robotic machine is a 25-tonne un-crewed device. It was detached from the cable, which connects it to a ship at the surface.

This incident happened during the growing issue over seabed's mineral mining plans.

The Patania II deep-sea mining robot was stranded when it was already halfway through a month-long program of research and trials. Here are other details that you should know about:

What Happened to Patania II deep-sea mining robot?

According to BBC's latest report, the Patania II deep-sea mining machine was deployed in an area of the Pacific licensed to GSR exploration. On the other hand, several zones of the Pacific ocean were already designated to some government agencies and companies.

This hi-tech machine, which was developed by the Belgian company GSR, almost finished its first phase of trials. However, its cable suddenly became detached from its connection to the surface machine.

"On its final dive in the GSR area, a lifting point separated and Patania II now stands on the seafloor," explained GSR's spokesman. "An operation to reconnect the lifting point begins this evening and we will provide an update in due course."

So, would Patania II resume its operation? As of now, it's hard to know.

Nevertheless, ccording to Bloomberg's previous report, Sandra Schoettner, a Greenpeace marine biologist, said that the incident should be a lesson that deep-sea mining activities are too dangerous.

However, GSR hasn't replied to her statement. As of the moment, Patania II is still beneath the Pacific Ocean. The company said that if the machine is properly retrieved from the depths of water, it would redeploy it for further research.

For more news updates about Patania II and other similar robots, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis