ISE commenced development of the Theseus vehicle in 1992 under contract with the Canadian Department of National Defence as part of the joint US-Canada Spinnaker project.

Theseus was originally developed to lay long lengths of fiber-optic cable under the Arctic ice pack. The vehicle completed successful deployments to the Arctic in 1995 and 1996. During the 1996 deployment, several 220 km cables were laid in 600 meter water depths under a 2.5 meter thick ice pack, establishing an AUV endurance record of 0ver 60 hours – all under ice.

The pressure hull payload bay and sensor suite of this AUV are configurable and can be adapted or replaced with new modules designed to support a wide variety of missions and tasks. The large payload bay of the vehicle suits it to carrying a number of smaller AUVs. The variable ballast system in the vehicle also enables it to be “parked” on the bottom for extended periods of time, and then re-activated.

The Theseus AUV is owned by The Canadian Department of National Defence. It is in storage at ISE and is available for charter.

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