NR-1

[PaulC]

The Nr-1 is off the coast of Galveston Texas right now (march 3 2007) doing some research study of a nearby reef.
I owuld love to board her, but dont know how to contact the right person. Would make a great story for the Report!

[pirate]

Try these:

http://www.navy.mil/navco/display.asp?page=contact.html

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=195

Get that article Paul!

Try these:

http://www.navy.mil/navco/display.asp?page=contact.html

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=195

Get that article Paul!

[pirate]

One more:

Fleet Public Affairs Center

One more:

Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic

http://www.news.navy.mil/local/pacennorfolk/

Click on "Contact Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic" link at top right.

[pirate]

Also, where did you learn

Also, where did you learn of this? Try to contact the source of the story to see if they can direct you.

[PaulC]

Thanks, Pete. We'll see what

Thanks, Pete. We'll see what we can do.

[pirate]

One more contact:

Point Of Contact
Public

One more contact:

Point Of Contact
Public Affairs Office
Naval Sea Systems Command
Washington, DC 20362

[fx models]

NR1 and getting on board

Hi Paul,
When NR1 is at sea, you will not be able to get on board. I know that the boat is tantalizingly close, but most likely the only way you can visit NR1 is to visit her in Groton when she is back at the pier and has been towed back by the Carolyn Chouest, her tender that is permanently stationed with her here in Groton.

When she is at sea, every minute is accounted for and there is no real downtime. Further, they take zero chances with civilians who are not part of the day to day science operation on such a small boat. You can walk from the pilot station to the reactor room in about 20 giant steps.

If for some reason she pulls up to the pier in Galveston, or nearby at a Navy run facility for ship's repair you MAY have a chance to see her pierside if you have a contact at THAT facility. Getting on board at the pier is a mess and will likely be frowned upon because of the shore power lines and ventilation that is run down through the main hatches through the sail [the only entry and exit] making the trip down the ladder feel like you are climbing down Jack's Beanstalk and trying to avoid all the vines...
If you dont have a local contact, then you will probably not have any luck going through the program office in DC. The NAVSEA folks do public outreach but it is planned long in advance and short notice trips are best arranged through a contact on site where she may dock for a period of time.

Sorry to rain on the parade but we have interfaced with these guys quite a lot and are just trying to provide a real-world assessment of your request based on what we have seen.

Marc

[PaulC]

Marc,

No problem. I appreciate the

Marc,

No problem. I appreciate the inside info!

[u-5075]

Houston & Texas News



March

Houston & Texas News



March 11, 2007, 1:22AM
Sub expedition brings back 'promising' clues


By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

GALVESTON — An area discovered on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles south of here could be the remnants of a long-ago shoreline and a place to look for signs of human habitation during the last Ice Age, scientists returning from a submarine expedition said Saturday.

Scientists cautioned that core samples and a more detailed study of the 6-mile-long area are needed before they will know for sure that they are looking at a coastline from 20,000 years ago.

"We found an area that looks like a promising place to do further research," said anthropologist David Robinson, one of 24 scientists on the weeklong expedition in deep water of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

The expedition conducted the first underwater search for signs of ancient humans in an area of the Gulf that is now far from shore while gathering biological and geographical information.

The mission also served as a proving ground for new technology that could make undersea exploration more like space exploration.

Scientists beamed information from the Gulf to six control centers in the United States, where scientists directed the expedition in real time.

Robinson and sanctuary Superintendent George Schmahl spent the first three days of the expedition in the belly of the NR-1, a U.S. Navy nuclear research submarine, looking through viewing windows about 18 feet from the sea bottom.

The NR-1 used its sonar to map the ocean floor and sent data to scientists in a control room jammed with scientific equipment aboard the nearby Carolyn Chouest, built to support the NR-1.

From the 238-foot Chouest, scientists deployed the Argus, a remote-controlled vehicle equipped with sonar that made rare videos of an eruption of methane gas from an undersea mud volcano.

Robinson was on watch Thursday morning when he noticed yellow signals on the green sonar monitor, indicating the kind of terrain consistent with an ancient shoreline.

Wave action and ocean currents had eroded much of the area. But members of the expedition hoped to find the suspected shoreline intact in areas where rapidly rising water could have inundated the land as temperatures rose.

The submarine zigzagged over an area about 6 miles long that had the appearance of an ancient coastline cut by streams, Robinson said.

If further study shows that it was a shoreline 20,000 years ago, scientists will look for evidence of human habitation.

The expedition's chief scientist, Dwight Coleman, said the suspected shoreline is about 100 miles south of Galveston and about 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana in about 300 feet of water.

Any discovery of human habitation in the area would push back the earliest known date of human life in North America by about 8,000 to 10,000 years, Coleman said.



AND



Explorers return empty-handed

By Leigh Jones
The Daily News


Published March 13, 2007

GALVESTON — The underwater explorers who spent last week scouring the offshore continental shelf for signs of 19,000-year-old human habitation sailed back to Galveston empty-handed Saturday.

The crew of geologists, biologists and marine archeologists was hoping to find clues of human activity in the area during the last Ice Age, when they believe the Texas coastline extended 100 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.

The expedition did not turn up anything definitive, but the scientists did find what they believe to be signs of the ancient shoreline about 330 feet below the ocean’s surface.

“A series of long vertical steps look like they may have been created by the movement of waves, which carve out a trough and deposit material farther up,” wrote team member Todd Viola, who posted mission logs daily on the expedition’s Web site. “This is the same profile we see on modern beaches.”

Viola described the find as very exciting but noted further exploration would be necessary to verify the scientists’ theory.

Last week’s expedition, dubbed “Secrets of the Gulf,” was headed by Robert Ballard, the oceanographer and explorer best known for his discovery of the Titanic in 1985.

The team traveled from Galveston to the Flower Garden Banks, the northernmost coral reef on the United States continental shelf, aboard the SSV Carolyn Chouest with the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered research submarine in tow. It was the first expedition Ballard led from shore.

Using a shipboard television studio and satellite technology, the team transmitted live video feed to groups of scientists all over the country. They also produced five live informational broadcasts each day.

According to the mission logs, the short expedition was plagued by bad weather and technical difficulties that limited use of Ballard’s underwater research capsule, Argus. When it finally entered the water, the remotely operated vehicle transmitted high-definition pictures of the ancient shoreline on the last day of the trip.

While Argus was out of commission earlier in the week, the team relied on images from the submarine. Two scientists at a time stretched out in the bottom of the 145-foot vessel and peered out of view ports to observe the ocean floor.

The submarine’s unique construction — with wheels for driving along the seabed — allowed the scientists to scrutinize the reef from a depth of 40 feet.

The discovery of an active mud volcano created quite a stir, wrote submarine captain Rick Panlilio in a March 6 log entry.

“We imaged it first with our side scanning sonar and found a large crater about 50 yards across on the summit,” he wrote. “The summit was about 160 feet up from the surrounding plane. On the sonar images, we could see a wisp of something trailing off the top of the mound.

“We thrusted the submarine down on top of the hill and crept toward the center and, ‘Eureka!’ we found that the dormant volcano was highly active, with a constant jet of gas, brine and silt being ejected from a briny mud pool inside the crater. The rocky structure inside the crater was jagged and run through with small canyons where dense brine seeped out.”

The submarine and its crew sailed back to Galveston on Saturday. The scientists returned to their labs, but the Navy crew will remain in port until they leave for their next expedition Thursday.

During their layover, Lt. James Krohne said the sailors would be taking a trip to the Johnson Space Center to compare notes with the astronauts.