"FLIP is from a time of bold engineering and optimism for our future and our oceans."
Indeed. There was a time in the 1960s when the oceans were considered to be as important to explore as space. From the Futurama ride at the 1964 World's Fair:[1]
>There was a time in the 1960s when the oceans were considered to be as important to explore as space.
Arguably a lot of that was just cover for cold war military submarine/anti-submarine research. Seabed hydrophones for tracking soviet subs, undersea mapping for submarine navigation, DSVs for recovering intelligence from wrecks, etc. Famously the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic was just the cover story for exploring submarine wrecks in the Atlantic.
That is just fine with me. I realize our current national politics leave a lot to be desired.
That sucks.
But, as long as we are advancing and stuff bleeds out to where mere mortals can access them, game on!
I am not here to wish it were better.
And I do want that, hope for that and am, when life permits, an activist to those ends.
We all get a free ticket to this place. It is amazing!
And we only get one.
I plan on loving, living, building, doing, playing and all manner of things we find ourselves willing and able to do
That is why I am here.
And ideally, I leave it better than I found it. Well on track for that to be true right now which means I am here to take the risks I can manage.
It is by no means perfect, but it is somewhat defensible POV.
rf15 4 hours ago [-]
The moon landing was also a highly politically motivated project - spreading the dream of space exploration was just a means to an end. But it's a great dream, even with that context.
gregschlom 3 hours ago [-]
Maybe, but the 60s are also the start of recreational scuba diving and that probably played a big part in it as well. All of a sudden there was this big unknown world that became accessible.
"Our mission is perhaps equally bold: to make humans aquatic by enabling our species to live, work and thrive underwater. FLIP will play a key role in the DEEP fleet, providing a one-of-a-kind platform for ocean research and being capable of supporting DEEP's Sentinel habitat deployments as part of our extended research network."
Well, damn..
adastra22 7 hours ago [-]
If you can’t say this about your own startup, what are you even doing?
sans_souse 5 hours ago [-]
nothing underwater..
mark_l_watson 12 hours ago [-]
I am happy it is not being junked. For many years I saw it sailing past the Marine Physics Laboratory (part of Scripts Institute of Oceanography). Later my Dad became director of that lab, until he retired. Such a cool idea for an experiment platform to rotate ninety degrees for stability.
relwin 2 hours ago [-]
I remember seeing a tug pulling a gigantic floating softball bat up and down the coast a few times -- definitely unusual!
tomcam 6 hours ago [-]
Holy crap your family is a bunch of serious overachievers
My kids will never have to worry about that problem
roygbiv2 12 hours ago [-]
I first read about this in a book as a child and was fascinated by it. The same book detailed a channel tunnel that was being planned between England and France, that definitely dates me.
Interesting. I had no idea it was originally designed for testing SUBROC.
walrus01 12 hours ago [-]
The lifespan of any vessel, barge, ship, ferry, whatever that's built from steel and lives its entire life in saltwater is limited. I don't think anyone should be surprised that something built in 1962 has become uneconomical to maintain and needs to be scrapped.
In this case it's probably unique enough that someone did the math on it and determined that for however many millions of euros are being spent to rehabilitate it in a shipyard, keeping it viable for another 10-15 years, it's less expensive than building an entirely new one to a custom design.
potato3732842 11 hours ago [-]
It's not that it's uneconomical to maintain the core ship. It's that ships periodically need to be refitted the same way houses get renovated and without a future use to justify that there's no reason to do so.
walrus01 11 hours ago [-]
I've seen detailed photo galleries of former WA state ferries when they go for auction, after they've reached the end of their service life as judged by the state government. Usually at the 40+ year mark. Throughout their service lives they get refitted and fixed up on an almost continual basis, many millions of dollars are spent on maintaining each one, but at a certain point, it starts looking like a money pit to pour funds into continuing to fix up a 35, 40 year old vessel in salt water.
There's some ships on the great lakes which are 70, 75, 80 years old and don't have nearly the same ongoing corrosion issues as similar ones that live in salt water.
lupusreal 16 hours ago [-]
It doesn't have propulsion of its own and needs to be towed everywhere; is it technically a ship? Seems more like a fancy barge or platform.
Very cool in any case, I'm glad it's been saved.
diggan 15 hours ago [-]
Wikipedia calls it "open ocean research platform" which seems more appropriate, agree. But it doesn't rhyme as nicely as "Flipping FLIP ship" so I understand the author took a bit of liberty in the title, at least they explain what FLIP stands for ("FLoating Instrument Platform") which makes it pretty clear if it's a ship or platform :)
ethbr1 15 hours ago [-]
It moves. Just only rotationally. :)
didntcheck 15 hours ago [-]
Nice. I have fond memories of being chased by a Flesher in one of those
Orbital_Armada 10 hours ago [-]
I was looking for a Soma reference... Only fitting for it to be at the bottom! :P
Rendered at 08:54:09 GMT+0000 (UTC) with Wasmer Edge.
Indeed. There was a time in the 1960s when the oceans were considered to be as important to explore as space. From the Futurama ride at the 1964 World's Fair:[1]
[1] https://youtu.be/2-5aK0H05jk?t=152
Arguably a lot of that was just cover for cold war military submarine/anti-submarine research. Seabed hydrophones for tracking soviet subs, undersea mapping for submarine navigation, DSVs for recovering intelligence from wrecks, etc. Famously the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic was just the cover story for exploring submarine wrecks in the Atlantic.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/us/titanic-discovery-classifi...
That sucks.
But, as long as we are advancing and stuff bleeds out to where mere mortals can access them, game on!
I am not here to wish it were better.
And I do want that, hope for that and am, when life permits, an activist to those ends.
We all get a free ticket to this place. It is amazing!
And we only get one.
I plan on loving, living, building, doing, playing and all manner of things we find ourselves willing and able to do
That is why I am here.
And ideally, I leave it better than I found it. Well on track for that to be true right now which means I am here to take the risks I can manage.
It is by no means perfect, but it is somewhat defensible POV.
RP FLIP escapes wrecker's claws - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41964882 - Oct 2024 (50 comments)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s FLIP vessel decommissioned after 60 years - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37072588 - Aug 2023 (51 comments)
A ship that flips 90 degrees for precise scientific measurements - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15078094 - Aug 2017 (75 comments)
"Flip", the vertical ship, marks 50 years at sea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4193185 - July 2012 (34 comments)
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP
Well, damn..
My kids will never have to worry about that problem
In this case it's probably unique enough that someone did the math on it and determined that for however many millions of euros are being spent to rehabilitate it in a shipyard, keeping it viable for another 10-15 years, it's less expensive than building an entirely new one to a custom design.
There's some ships on the great lakes which are 70, 75, 80 years old and don't have nearly the same ongoing corrosion issues as similar ones that live in salt water.
Very cool in any case, I'm glad it's been saved.