Pitching in with a distraction for a slow news weekend, I present to you all the R/P FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform.
Imagine sailing across a calm blue sea. A black dot appears on the horizon. As you draw closer, the dot begins to take on the shape of a boat. Well, the front end of a boat sticking out of the water, that is. No, you are not seeing things. Chances are you just had a FLIP encounter.
FLIP is a research vessel with stability in mind - after the ship tilts 90 degrees backward into the sea it is as stable as a fencepost, offering the opportunity for more refined measurements at sea. FLIP has been used in a variety of programs including geophysics, meteorology, physical oceanography, acoustic signals, and laser propagation experiments. FLIP has operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
You can watch the tilting action, including some great shots of the outside crew, on this Youtube video.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 24 2014, @05:18PM
There's a grammar error in the summary, which I didn't catch:
But about the FLIP, the reason why I knew about it is because my employer "rented" it as a test bed to test a prototype product in real-world conditions. The product was so large that no pressure chambers could accommodate it, so the only option left was to actually test it at depth. We made a fixture to secure it to the back end of the FLIP, and the test was a success.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Lagg on Sunday August 24 2014, @06:27PM
You also missed that you're a dirty hope dashing whore!
... I was expecting something that resembled MMIX or something that did something special/interesting with floating point math and then read the summary proper and was instantly let down. :(
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by martyb on Monday August 25 2014, @01:06AM
Thanks for bringing this to our attention; it's been fixed!
And, in your defense, it obviously can be explained by this. [soylentnews.org] =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday August 24 2014, @05:35PM
The recent 6.1 Earthquake in California must not be interesting enough.
This ship was launched in 1962 and has been in service ever since.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP_FLIP [wikipedia.org]
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday August 24 2014, @05:48PM
Was going to say the same thing. This ship has been around since the before Mercury space launch days.
Not only is there nothing new here, but there is very little research done on this ship any more that couldn't be more
easily done on any other ship.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by bswarm on Sunday August 24 2014, @09:35PM
It's still a cool site to see. I remember seeing it flip many decades ago as a kid during a local San Diego beach trip.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by deimios on Monday August 25 2014, @04:01AM
IMHO there is nothing interesting about an earthquake that happens halfway around the globe, unless said earthquake somehow involved high tech or feats of engineering or lawyers.
(Score: 1) by richtopia on Sunday August 24 2014, @08:45PM
Really, it is flipping sweet.