A little yellow submarine tucked away in a quiet research centre in Massachusetts could be the key to solving the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The unmanned sub can reach depths of up to 6km and played a crucial role in the investigation of an Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean en route from Brazil in 2009.
The underwater drone can remain beneath the waves for up to 20 hours and it is expected to be deployed in the hunt for MH370 if the debris spotted in the Indian Ocean southwest of Perth turns out to be wreckage of the missing flight.
Oceanographer Mark Dennett said the submarine can scan an area around 600m on either side of the vessel as it meticulously combs the ocean floor.
The data it collects is transmitted back to the surface where researchers can put together a type of underwater map of the surface of the ocean.
The sub could also be crucial to discovering what happened to the plane with the vessel expected to be mobilised in the search for the Malaysia Airlines' jet's black box.
The search for the black box on the stricken Air France flight took two years even though there was little doubt about where the plane crashed and large amounts of debris seen floating on the surface of the water.
Oceanographer Mike Purcell said the mystery of flight MH370 may never be solved.
"It's possible that we'll never find out what happened. I think there are so many unknowns right now," he said.
Source: Nine News
Author: Martin Zavan, Approving editor: Simon Black
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