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Witnesses urge accelerated ocean mapping using uncrewed systems; Saildrone proposes codifying "auto" program
Summary
Saildrone and explorers told the subcommittee that uncrewed surface and underwater systems can scale mapping of the U.S. EEZ faster and cheaper than traditional ships and recommended legal authorization for NOAA's uncrewed-operations program.
At the House Science subcommittee hearing, Brian Connor, vice president of ocean mapping at Saildrone, made a technology-focused case for accelerating seafloor mapping using uncrewed systems.
Connor told members that roughly half of the U.S. EEZ remains unmapped and that commercial autonomous surface and underwater vehicles can provide "a persistent presence at sea" to identify candidate sites for detailed follow-up. "Instead of dedicating our crude vessels to the routine due diligence phase of ocean mapping, we can now assign this task to autonomous robotic systems," he said, describing multi-thousand-square-mile surveys Saildrone has completed.
Connor offered three recommendations: codify NOAA's autonomous/uncrewed-technology pathway (known in testimony as the "auto" program) to provide legal certainty for mission-as-a-service models; move away from a ship-centric mapping model and scale uncrewed systems for broad-area mapping; and promptly release the seabed mapping plan required by Executive Order 14285 so private-sector investments can align with national priorities.
Exploration advocates backed the point. Dr. Robert Ballard said exploration often reveals unexpected, high-value discoveries and argued that cheaper, scalable networks of vehicles and multi-vehicle operations will increase the pace of discovery and baseline data collection. Saildrone and other private-sector platforms are already operating in partnership with NOAA and the Navy in some regions, the testimony said.
Members pressed about oversight, data standards and how industry-collected data would be shared with federal agencies and the public. Brian Connor emphasized commercial models that shift operational risk from government to industry while providing data to government customers; Dr. Ballard and others urged that industry-collected data be made broadly available and used to support independent peer-reviewed research.
The subcommittee did not take action but left the record open for additional materials and questions.
