Alvin 6500

Alvin passed another critical milestone yesterday with its first untethered post-overhaul dives.

Alvin completes incline test, paving the way for open ocean dives. How simulated dives debug Alvin’s software before actual dives take place.

Alvin finishes in-water tests of electrical and mechanical systems and dives briefly to test the variable ballast system.

Alvin began its road back to diving with a test of its buoyancy.

Atlantis left Woods Hole around 2:45 yesterday with a storm building across our path to Bermuda, so we’ve taken a westerly course parallel to the coast with plans to turn 90 degrees left this afternoon and make a beeline across the Gulf Stream. That should allow us to miss the worst of what was in…

Alvin pilot Danik Forsman (right) was joined by pilots-in-training Nick Osadcia and Kaitlyn Beardshear for a simulated dive on emergency air during the sub’s ongoing sea trials. (Photo by Ken Kostel © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Atlantis hasn’t left the dock in Woods Hole yet and Alvin hasn’t touched the water since the completion of…