Darkness has Fallen…

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For my readers and listeners, a sad time has come.  The autonomous robotic boat named Scout has gone dark, and this time, it looks like it is final.  She last transmitted more than 24 hours ago, after some rather interesting couple of days where she tracked against current and wind, and at last looked like she was picking up a route.

Scout — Transatlantic Autonomous Robot - Chromium_001

According to Scout teammate Tom Schindler,  “[The] best case scenario someone picked her up [otherwise] the backup tracker could be waterlogged or otherwise disconnected from the hull, or she sank.”

It looks like at this point, unless she has been picked up, we may never learn of her fate unless she happens to make landfall at some point.

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