Ocean Infinity Explained

Ocean Infinity
Type:Private
Location City:Austin, Texas
Location Country:United States
Industry:Marine robotics

Ocean Infinity is a marine robotics company based in Austin, Texas, United States, and Southampton, United Kingdom, that was founded in 2017. The company uses robots to obtain information from the ocean and seabed.[1]

History

Ocean Infinity is based in Austin, Texas, and Southampton, England, and was founded in July 2017. The company is led by CEO Oliver Plunkett and is privately held.[2] [3] Ocean Infinity was created after recognising the effectiveness of using marine robots in scale to acquire and analyse data from the oceans.[4]

Robots

Ocean Infinity operates two robotic fleets; the Armada fleet and the Infinity fleet. The Infinity fleet is made up of 14 autonomous underwater vehicles that operate globally in the oceans, along with the Armada fleet of robotic ships. The fleets are equipped with sensors and navigation technology capable of operating down to 6000m (20,000feet) depth.[5] [6] The company reported in May 2022 that the first of 23 Armada surface vessels had recently been launched in Vietnam.[7]

Projects

Summary

Summary of successful Ocean Infinity search missions:

Ship/Submarine Date sunk Date discovered Depth Ref
November 15, 2017 November 17, 2018 [8]
March 31, 2017 February 17, 2019 [9]
January 27, 1968 July 21, 2019 [10] [11]
July 31, 1948 May 11, 2020 [12] [13]
November 21, 1915 March 5, 2022 [14] [15]
May 24, 1946 August 1, 2024 [16] [17]

Details

Ocean Infinity was involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in early 2018, deploying Seabed Constructor between January and May without success.[18] In November of the same year, Seabed Constructor located the wreck of Argentine submarine, which had disappeared a year earlier.[19] At the end of December 2018, Ocean Infinity was contracted by the South Korean government to search for the wreck of the sunken bulk carrier ship, which sank in March 2017 in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Uruguay.[20] On 17 February 2019, the company announced that it believed it had found the ship's wreck,[21] and soon afterward retrieved the voyage data recorder.[22]

In addition to the high-profile wreck searches, Ocean Infinity has also undertaken data acquisition support for Total E&P, Shell Mauritania, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Exxon Mobil, NOAA and Petrobras.[23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

In early 2019, the wreck of was localized by Island Pride, which arrived 30 March and started inspecting the wreck using remotely operated underwater vehicles.[28] In July 2019, the company found the French Navy submarine, 50 years after its disappearance.[29] In 2020, Ocean Infinity also worked with Search INC to locate the battleship .[30] [31]

Ocean Infinity provided technical expertise and equipment to locate Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance, which sank 27 October 1915 after having been frozen in the ice of the Weddell Sea off Antarctica. The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust's project Endurance22 succeeded on 5 March 2022.

In December 2024, it was reported that Ocean Infinity would resume the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 under a $70 million 'no find, no fee' agreement with the Malaysian government.[32] On December 3, 2025, the Ministry of Transport Malaysia announced that Ocean Infinity would resume the search for MH370 on December 30, 2025. The search would last for a total of 55 days.[33]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ocean Infinity's Innovative Marine Robotics Solutions for Sustainable Operations . portusonline.org.
  2. News: Ocean survey company goes for robot boats at scale. Jonathan. Amos. BBC News. February 10, 2020.
  3. Web site: OCEAN INFINITY LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House). beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  4. Web site: Ocean Infinity. Ocean Infinity.
  5. Web site: Ocean Infinity unveils fleet of robot exploration vessels. February 5, 2020. Offshore Technology | Oil and Gas News and Market Analysis.
  6. Web site: Ocean Infinity to launch 15-vessel AUV fleet under new company. Baird. Maritime. February 10, 2020.
  7. Web site: Armada launches to sea . 2022-05-09 . 2023-07-07.
  8. Web site: Ocean Infinity Locates the Missing Argentinian Submarine, ARA San Juan . Ocean Infinity . 17 November 2018 . 21 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181118081645/https://oceaninfinity.com/locates_ARA_San_Juan . 18 November 2018 . dead .
  9. Web site: Remembering the search for MV Stellar Daisy, four years on… . 17 Feb 2023. 2024-12-22. Ocean Infinity.
  10. Web site: 50 years after disappearing off the coast of France, the submarine Minerve is found. July 22, 2019. CNN. Allen Kim.
  11. News: Guibert. Nathalie . La " Minerve ", le sous-marin disparu il y a cinquante ans, a été retrouvé au large de Toulon. 22 July 2019. 2019-07-22. fr . Le Monde.
  12. Web site: Werner . Ben . 2020-05-11 . VIDEO: Research Groups Find Wreck of 'Unsinkable Battleship' USS Nevada . 2024-12-25 . USNI News . en-US.
  13. Brennan. Michael. Delgado. James. Ferreiro. Larrie. Broussard. Josh. Arbuthnot. Michael. Discovery and Initial Documentation of USS NEVADA (BB-36): An Artifact of Two World Wars and the Advent of the Cold War. Journal of Maritime Archaeology. 31 January 2022. 10.1007/s11457-022-09324-5. 17. 93-129. 8804083.
  14. Web site: Ocean Infinity on X: "We are extremely proud of our team involved in the discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost vessel ... / X. Ocean Infinity. March 9, 2022.
  15. Web site: Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic. BBC. 9 March 2022. Jonathan Amos.
  16. Web site: Ocean Explorers Discover the Wreck of USS Stewart, A World War II Warship Once Known as the "Ghost Ship of the Pacific". Ocean Infinity. Air/Sea Heritage Foundation. SEARCH. October 1, 2024. 2024-12-22.
  17. Web site: Wreck of 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' Found Off California. New York Times. Michael Greshko. October 1, 2024. 2024-12-22.
  18. News: A Search for MH370, Missing Since 2014, Ends 'With a Heavy Heart' . . 29 May 2018 . 18 November 2018.
  19. News: Argentine Submarine San Juan Is Found . . 17 November 2018 . 18 November 2018.
  20. Web site: Ocean Infinity to Support South Korean Government in Search for Stellar Daisy . oceaninfinity.com . 23 July 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190805071504/https://oceaninfinity.com/ocean-infinity-Stellar+Daisy . 5 August 2019 . dead .
  21. News: South Korean tanker Stellar Daisy found on ocean floor 2 years after it sank, explorers say . . 17 February 2019 . David Aaro.
  22. News: Search ship retrieves voyage data recorder from sunken Stellar Daisy . The Korea Herald . 18 February 2019 . 23 July 2019. Yonhap .
  23. Web site: Ocean Infinity wraps up offshore Angola survey project. March 5, 2020. Offshore Technology | Oil and Gas News and Market Analysis.
  24. Web site: Ocean Infinity completes data expedition for Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Baibhav. Mishra. September 24, 2019.
  25. Web site: NOAA teams with Ocean Infinity to advance new tools for ocean exploration and mapping | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. www.noaa.gov. 9 January 2020 .
  26. Web site: Ocean Infinity to provide AUV surveys for Petrobras. January 16, 2019.
  27. Web site: ExxonMobil picks Ocean Infinity for AUV data acquisition offshore Guyana. March 2, 2020. Offshore Technology | Oil and Gas News and Market Analysis.
  28. https://www.premar-atlantique.gouv.fr/communiques-presse/naufrage-du-navire-grande-america-dans-le-golfe-de-gascogne-communique-de-presse-n-22
  29. News: Localizados los restos del 'Minerve', un submarino francés desaparecido en 1968 . . 22 July 2019 . Silvia Ayuso.
  30. Web site: Photos: Ocean Infinity Finds Famed Battleship USS Nevada . 2024-12-25 . The Maritime Executive . en.
  31. News: May 25, 2020 . Undersea explorers find wreck of USS Nevada, the ship that almost escaped Pearl Harbor . washingtonpost.com.
  32. Web site: 2024-12-20 . MH370: Malaysia agrees to resume search for missing passenger jet . 2024-12-20 . BBC News . en-GB.
  33. Web site: Resumption of MH370 Search by Ocean Infinity in the Southern Indian Ocean. 2025-12-04. 3 December 2025. Ministry of Transport Malaysia.

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