The second day was more future-oriented, on the one hand the plan for the two demonstration missions was presented, on the other hand, there were a series of guest lectures, which showed the variety of starting points for a future networking of Robex with additional partners.
Regarding the demonstration mission „Moon Analog“ was reported that scientists after evaluation of the data obtained during a scouting trip have decided to perform in the first step classic seismic surveys on the island of Vulcano and on Etna in 2016. In 2017 the demonsstration mission “Moon-Analogue” will show that autonomous robotic measurements with the seismometer can be performed in the test area on Etna.
The plans for the demonstration mission deep sea are also promising, as the application for the research vessel “Polarstern” has been approved for a timeslot of 3 weeks from end of July to beginning of August for around 50 people.
The guest lectures covered a wide range: So presented William Kirkwood from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute „Fault-tolerant actuator system for Dorado class autonomous underwater vehicles AUVs,“ Dr. Boris Behncke from the italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology INGV talked about a variety of methods of monitoring the Etna volcano activities, Dr. Jean-Pierre de Vera from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research presented the current project BIOMEX, and also the project application BioSign with involvement of some members of ROBEX, Prof. Peter Höher from the University of Kiel talked about the work of the „Kieler AUV Alliance“ and Prof. Ralph Lorenz (John Hopkins University Washington) gave a presentation about plans for a submarine to explore methane lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan.
This workshop offered again the opportunity to intensify the internal network within ROBEX but also further promotion of the spirit of ROBEX to national , european and international institutions in order to prepare for sustainability of ROBEX.