Image supplied by the Marine National Facility.

RV Investigator, CSIRO’s purpose-built research vessel, will scale up 300 days of operations per year under the Research Infrastructure Investment Plan announced in the 2018 federal budget.

Investigator, which has been in service since 2014, is capable of carrying 40 scientists and support staff on research missions of up to 10,000 kilometres. The 93.9 metre, $120 million research vessel was built to support geoscience, atmospheric, oceanographic and biological research, including seafloor surveys — and now has the budget to operate year-round.

The vessel used multibeam sonar to locate the historic WWII-era wreck of the SS Macumba in October 2017.

Image supplied by the Marine National Facility.[/caption]

Investigator will receive a healthy $31.2 million portion of the $1.9 billion allotted to the Research Infrastructure Investment Plan announced in the 2018 budget.

Ian Poiner, Chair, Marine National Facility Steering Committee welcomed the news and sung Investigator‘s praises.

“This new funding recognises the very strong demand from the marine research community for the flexible platform that Investigator provides, and follows the successful delivery of a series of complex, multidisciplinary voyage schedules since the vessel was commissioned in late 2014,” he said.

We wish RV Investigator the best of luck on future missions.