PRESS RELEASE: The research and development project, known as the Large Modifiable Underwater Mothership (MUM), will receive funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy over three years. It will open up new ways to explore and harness the potential of the world’s oceans.

MUM is breaking with old conventions: The modular, unmanned underwater vehicle performs its tasks largely autonomously. Its modular design enables the new vehicle class to be customised cost-efficiently for each mission. Individual base modules can be freely combined with specific mission modules to form large systems, enabling even unusual and highly specialised tasks to be performed quickly and easily.

Possible activities range from payload transportation and operations to research missions and stationary deep-sea tasks. This makes the new underwater vehicle ideal for industrial use in the areas of offshore energy and deep-sea mining as well as other applications, such as maritime science.

Marc Schiemann, project manager at thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, said: “The world’s oceans present a wide range of tasks and questions that cannot yet be addressed because we don’t have the appropriate vehicles and systems. MUM offers a wealth of new options for industrial marine engineering and scientific ocean research. We will equip the floating, wireless underwater vehicle with an air-independent fuel cell propulsion system. Our goal is to develop a vehicle which allows diving depths of up to 5,000m and continuous operation for several weeks.”

The completely emission-free propulsion system also makes the underwater vessel ideal for use in highly ecologically sensitive environments. With a payload capacity of several tonnes, MUM is capable of handling even heavy-duty tasks. The individual modules can be reused, permitting a significant reduction in costs compared with conventional vehicle concepts and much quicker development cycles. Newly developed mission modules are also easy to integrate.

Research and development work for the project is expected to be completed by 2020, with a 1:5 scale model built and tested. The partners are targeting market readiness by 2025.

As project coordinator, thyssenkrupp will among other things develop the overall operating concept for MUM and translate it into a draft design for the vessel in close collaboration with Berlin Technical University. The company will also develop and test the fuel cell energy supply.

Atlas Elektronik is responsible for the guidance and navigation system (GNC), incorporating the control functions provided by the University of Rostock and communications developed by EvoLogics. Berlin Technical University will integrate the hardware into a vehicle concept and test scaled models of MUM.

Meanwhile, EvoLogics will be responsible for developing a telemetry network to enable the autonomous and accurate underwater navigation, positioning and communication of the new vehicle. The University of Rostock will develop an intelligent and fault tolerant control system, which adapts itself to the variable vehicle structure and changing dynamic behaviour.