The IBC Innovation Award for Content Distribution was presented to news agency Associated Press (AP) at the IBC Innovation Awards ceremony in Amsterdam on 16 September for its groundbreaking work documenting the Nekton Deep Ocean Research Institute First Descent mission.
Cutting edge optical technology engineered by subsea communications specialist Sonardyne and Inmarsat’s high bandwidth satellite service Fleet Xpress and terminals provided by Cobham allowed AP to send live footage from deep sea submersibles to hundreds of broadcasters and digital publishers across the globe.
Over 70 hours of live content was transmitted during First Descent’s 48-day mission in the Seychelles last March and April, including nine hours of prime-time television broadcast on Sky, and two-way interviews with the submersible crews.
Nekton undertakes missions on behalf of island and coastal nations to gather the data needed to support the protection and sustainable management of their territorial waters. First Descent is a three-year project to explore and conserve the world’s most unknown and least protected ocean, The Indian Ocean.
The Seychelles was the first in a series of expeditions, with First Descent’s mother ship the Ocean Zephyr hosting a team of scientists, submersible and remote operated vehicle (ROV) pilots, subsea engineers and journalists. Inmarsat partner Cobham SATCOM provided Ocean Zephyr with a SAILOR 100 GX compact one-metre Ka-band terminal, with the back-up of FleetBroadband.
Watch our video to find out more about the Seychelles mission and how Inmarsat technology is supporting Nekton’s work in ocean conservation.
For more information contact [email protected].
An image taken from video issued by Nekton shows a submersible from the vessel the Ocean Zephyr during a descent into the Indian Ocean off Alphonse Atoll near the Seychelles, Tuesday March 12, 2019. Members of the British-led Nekton research team boarded two submersible vessels and descended into the waters off the Seychelles on Tuesday, marking a defining moment in their mission to document changes to the Indian Ocean. The submersibles will be battling strong undersea currents and potentially challenging weather conditions as they survey the side of an undersea mountain off Alphonse Atoll. (Nekton via AP)
