The main science hangar

The scientific hangar – the heart of the research vessel

The scientific hangar is a key feature of almost all modern, ocean-going research vessels. It provides a sheltered environment for the scientists, their equipment and the ship’s winches and launch and recovery systems. REV Ocean’s hangar is designed to house all the subsea equipment used onboard the vessel. The centrepiece of the hangar area is a large “moonpool” (bottom hatch allowing direct access to the sea), measuring 7.7 x 5m. This specially built opening in REV Ocean’s hull allows the safe deployment and recovery of our equipment, such as the ROV, Submersible and AUV from the working deck to the sea – even when the vessel is operating in ice or bad weather. The addition of a moonpool inside the hangar widens the operational envelope by allowing launch and recovery in very high sea states as well as when the ship is surrounded by ice.

On REV Ocean, the concept has been taken one step further by also moving most of the facilities usually found on an open work deck into the hangar. This has been achieved by increasing the hangar size and adding large hatches on both sides that open the full length and height of the hangar. The hangar doors are massive, measuring 22 x 6 m, and  are critical to be opened at sea, as the majority of research activities will take place on the open ocean. The research hangar is in essence the very heart of the ship.

Additional handling systems on the port and starboard side of the hanger allow the deployment of scientific water sampling systems (CTD) and coring devices (Gravity, Box and Multi corers). Five boom cranes have been added for over-the-side operations in addition to the moonpool. All the scientific winches housed on the deck beneath the hangar can either be routed through the boom cranes on each side or through the moonpool creating a very flexible system for operating many types of equipment.

The hangar also acts as a maintenance space for our vehicles and is serviced by a large workshop. Additional space is also available for the deployment and recovery of visiting or mission-specific systems.