Fukada Salvage & Marine Works has completed the sea trial for its seafloor drill UNICORN-1.
UNICORN-1 is a seafloor drill designed to operate in waters down to 3,000m depth for geotechnical surveys and mineral explorations.
It is a semi-automated wireline drill using commercial tooling. The system includes a heave-compensated Launch and Recovery System (LARS).
Sea trials
UNICORN-1 drilled more than 60 meters at water depths between 570 meters and 750 meters during the sea trial last month.
A continuous drilling of 24 meters was completed on a volcanic rugged and sloping seafloor with core recovery of 70 per cent in fractured rock with loose in-fill. Wireline operations demonstrated cycle times of less than 20 minute for 1.5m samples, independent of sample depth.