The MK1C looks like a conventional submarine missing its hood, but this electric vehicle is aimed at underwater travel for those already sporting submersible gear.

Marine biologists, underwater archeologists and special forces, the craft lets divers get in and out easily, but travel far faster than they normally could beneath the waves. Its designers claim it is the fastest in the world, allowing people get get lower faster and stay underwater longer as a result.

It can carry three divers at a time, powered by two spinning motors running on four large batteries. On the surface, it can hit 8 knots – below the water line it can go up to 8 knots. The submarine is equipped with breathing apparatus, a navigation system, extra air supplies and a cargo space of 250 liters.

While designed for more official and serious uses, one could have a lot of fun with this – anyone who has gone recreational diving knows it is a pain to jump in and come back out then search for the next spot. With this, you can cruise below the waves just as you would looking at sights on the surface in a car.

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China is working to create a massive subsurface sea lab thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean, aiming to hunt for minerals in the South China Sea and presumably to cement their claim to the disputed region.

The project is one of the country’s top scientific priorities, according to the Chinese government, and would be a world first – while submarines can go as deep as the planned station, no manned outpost has been constructed and maintained at such depths to date.

“The deep sea contains treasures that remain undiscovered and undeveloped, and in order to obtain these treasures we have to control key technologies in getting into the deep sea, discovering the deep sea, and developing the deep sea,” President Xi said last month at a national science conference.

Some reports indicate that the project would be mobile, and others have theorized that it could be a strategic part of the ‘Underwater Great Wall Project” designed to detect US and Russian submarines. The government says it will be for civil use, but will not rule out military functions.

Spearheading the planning for the deep-sea station is the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, according to a statement on the website of the science ministry. Once operational, it would host dozens of crew members who could remain underwater for up to a month, the ministry’s presentation separately said.

Planning has been under way for a decade and is central to China’s push to become a global technology superpower by 2030. Completing it would help China close a deep sea exploration gap with the U.S., Japan, France and Russia on underwater technology.

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In a world so mapped out, it is amazing that scientists can still miss (then discover) something as large a coral reef cover thousands of square miles, all through a series of unlikely accidents.

As researchers puzzled over an area of the ocean that absorbed more than expected amounts of carbon dioxide, and featured unexpected species of fish, they decided to mount an expedition.

The dozens of oceanographers who ventured out to explore the area were astonished when a dredge brought up corals, sponges, stars and fish hiding deep beneath the murky waters.

Conditions in the area had led most of the participating scientists to assume there must be another explanation before this physical evidence was discovered.

The reef, now further documented, represents an incredibly diverse habitat that sustains various species, many of which are specific to the region. More from The Atlantic: “Among the world’s rivers, the Amazon reigns with the heaviest crown. It begins in Peru, less than 75 miles from the Pacific shore, among the tiny glacial streams that trickle through the Andes. Those creeks become a river, which joins a network of other capillaries draining more than 3 million square-miles of South American land—water from mountains, foothills, and the world’s largest rainforest uniting to form a monumental flow that thunders clear across the continent until it gushes into the Atlantic. When measured by discharge, it is the largest river in the world: Every day, one-fifth of all the water that flows from all Earth’s rivers into all Earth’s oceans does it here, as the Amazonian flume. Nutrients in the spill support oceanic algae blooms hundreds of miles from shore.”

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Some drones fly in the air, others zoom across or through the water, but this rare hybrid does both with graceful ease, diving underwater then returning to the skies on demand.

Created by Oakland University’s Embedded Systems Research, the Loon Copter works much like a regular flying drone, and can also land and float easily on the water thanks to a bouyancy chamber filled with air.

However, it can also fill that chamber up, allowing it to sink, then flip its rotors to propel it through the water. To fly, it ejects the ballast and goes airborne again. Faster than a submarine, it can scout in the water, then return to and hover above the surface for rescure or recovery operations.

Its creators are working on extending its wireless range to allow it to go even further below the waves. More from its makers: “Loon Copter is a novel multi-rotor platform capable of traditional aerial flight, on-water surface operation, and sub aquatic diving. The Loon Copter is a proof-of-concept vehicle that demonstrated successful operation in early 2015. The 3rd prototype of our Loon Copter won the 2016 UAE Drones for Good competition in Dubai, which received 1017 entries from 165 countries.”

The post Loon Copter: Amphibious Drone Floats, Flies & Dives first appeared on Gajitz.

If you ever wanted to experience the pure effortless joy of a dolphin cruising through the ocean, the X2 Sport Underwater Jet Pack system will remake you into a sea-worthy mammal.

Six miles per hour may not sound like much, but it is twice the world record speed of an unenhanced human swimmer. The devices strap to your pack and arms, propelling you gracefully and without additional human power through the water.

Add scuba gear or other breathing accessories and you can dive deep and fast. A handheld mechanism lets you grip to go forward and speed up, aiming your arms where you want to travel, while your back carries the majority of the mechanism.

Hopefully some future iteration of this device will add foot-worn additions to the equation, potentially further bolstering speed and giving you more dynamic and omnidirectional control to boot. For now, the beta-tested version is being developed at a steep price tag of $1,400, so you may want to rent before you aim to own.

The post Swim Like a Sea Mammal: Underwater Jet Pack Thrusters first appeared on Gajitz.