Deep Sea Invertebrates can now be safely housed in Floyd County.
"Techshot, Inc., has earned a $400,000 two-year contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to advance the company’s system for retrieving animals from as deep as 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) under the sea and safely bringing them to surface laboratories for study. It is the second contract within a year awarded to Techshot for such work.
“For more than 20 years we’ve been developing custom laboratory equipment for earth, air and space research,” said Techshot Executive Vice President and COO John Vellinger. “This project represents our first significant step into providing research equipment for scientists studying marine life.”
The physiology of deep sea fish and invertebrates is poorly known due to the difficult challenges of bringing up live specimens from high-pressure environments. Animals that thrive far below the surface cannot survive in the relatively low-pressures available in research laboratory enclosures.
When completed, Techshot’s high pressure specimen chamber is expected to be the only one of its kind capable of capturing and hosting creatures of the deep in conditions that sustain life and maximize research laboratory data gathering. Some of the first prototypes will be delivered to the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory for evaluation. Established by NOAA and the University of Hawaii, its mission is to study deep water marine processes in the Pacific Ocean.
Founded in 1988 in Greenville, Techshot engineers, scientists and technicians specialize in providing integrated mechanical, electrical and software solutions to the technical needs of a diverse spectrum of industries.
— Contributed"
As a scientist and lover of deep sea invertebrates, this is one tasty news nugget. First time I've heard of this outfit, hopefully not the last...
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