MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS VOYAGE - MAS's direction of travel is the reverse of the Scout and Voyager autonomous Atlantic attempts that took advantage of trade winds. The Mayflower will be heading into prevailing winds. If sail powered, she would need to tack. But powered by a diesel engine, there is no need for that. Energy from nature is used to power the onboard AI and satellite communications. Any surplus could aid propulsion.

We were following this exciting scientific ocean adventure, hoping that the all alloy Mayflower makes it from Plymouth in Devon, UK, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the USA without any technical hitches. Unfortunately, and a bit of a blow for marine autonomy, the vessel started to show signs of erratic course keeping behaviour. Then appeared to be going backwards.

We will be reporting the facts, with reference to media articles, with our own observations. You can find out more about progress on the official websites (urls below).

Following this second day of autonomous navigation history in the making, and the revelations of this third day of the MAS 400 Atlantic attempt, we look forward to reporting on progress during the fourth and subsequent days in 2021.

It seems likely that the vessel will be recovered and taken back to Plymouth in Devon, for repairs. We might then see another attempt in 2021, or if that proves to be difficult time and technology wise, maybe in 2022.

TRANSATLANTIC EVENT CALENDAR 2021

The IBM Mayflower MAS 400 is an autonomous trimaran powered by a diesel engine, piloted by a solar powered artificially intelligent computer system developed by IBM called 'AI Captain.'

JOURNEY TIME

The original wooden 30-meter Mayflower took 66 days to carry the Pilgrims, Founding Fathers from the U.K. to what is now the U.S. The voyage would have involved a lot of tacking, because sailing ships cannot sail directly into the wind. But the new sail-less aluminium boat should take two to three weeks (14-21 days) depending on how strong the prevailing trade winds are.

LINKS, CONTACTS & REFERENCE

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/18/mayflower-ibm-autonomous-ship/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/18/mayflower-ibm-autonomous-ship/

https://mas400.com/

http://www.promare.org/projects/
https://newsroom.ibm.com/then-and-now