Exploration ships are like survey ships in terms of design, complement, characteristics, and capabilities, but with a subtle difference: exploration vessels are often required to venture into more challenging, harsh, remote, and uncharted environments.
As the name itself suggests, ‘explore’ essentially attributes to the capability of the vessel to travel to different locations, including those never discovered before, and carry out research and study work for a host of purposes in the field of ocean and earth sciences and technology.
This includes all those ambits of deep-sea explorations discussed in our previous article on survey ships like hydrography, geophysics, geology, multi-physics, hydrodynamics, marine biology, oceanography, coastal and offshore engineering, environmental sciences, and so on.
Exploration vessels are mostly equipped to assimilate data related to various ocean parameters and use it for research.
In other words, exploration vessels have two functions: discovering locations of interest and conducting observation, study, and research work for various applications.
Thus, for all practical purposes, exploration ships can be considered a special kind of survey vessel (and a subclass of the broad category of research vessels, of course) that are used in more challenging environments and suited for more complex operations.
For example, if there are theories about a location where it is highly feasible to discover oil and natural reserves, an exploration vessel may be sent to initially reconnaissance the area and report on the validation of that theory.
If the vessel is equipped to conduct further research, the oil reserves are tapped for extraction. Otherwise, another survey vessel may be sent to conduct a detailed survey and process inspection regarding developing an oil well.
Exploration vessels are mostly used in extreme weather conditions like polar regions to study various climatic, meteorological, geographic, and oceanographic aspects. Hence, exploration vessels suited for those operations are mostly ice-class with often ice-breaking capabilities to help plough through thick ice covers.
Structurally, exploration vessels are sturdy and robust in construction, often composed of steel grades and stiffened in a way that marks a stark difference from conventional vessels.
Moreover, exploration ships are equipped with state-of-the-art electronics, telecommunication, and navigation systems that make them not only communicable from any location but also enable them to garner data points related to their area of application easily.
For instance, if an exploration vessel is deployed in a polar region and needs to tap into deep-sea underwater oceanographic data, including its physical, chemical, and even biological properties, the technologies available on board are enough to gather the necessary information despite all inclement climatic and related conditions.
Exploration ships are thus costly and owned mainly by governmental, defence, and scientific or research bodies, with a rare exception at the organizational or individual level, which may be required to conduct explorations for business and commerce.
In this context, it may be worthwhile to mention that exploration vessels have been in use for a very long time. It may be worthwhile to say that they were the earliest vessels used by mankind when the concept of contemporary research vessels was a few centuries away.
In the past, exploration vessels were used to discover habitats conducive to establishments and ecosystems for extracting natural reserves and expanding trade and commerce. Christopher Columbus, the navigator and explorer who famously found the Americas more than five centuries ago, explored the world on three of his acclaimed exploration vessels: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
Similarly, the British, the Portuguese, and other foreign entities colonized countries like India during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries to forage for natural resources like crops and other raw materials for trade, production, and commerce. Exploration ships were the means they used in such conquests.
The period from the 15th to 17th century was also famously known as the Age of Exploration, when historic vessel types like galleons and carracks began to be used for exploration and conquest purposes.
Exploration ships often serve as scientific stations in remote and extreme environments, such as polar regions, for continuous research and observation purposes. Countries like the United States, India, Russia, China, and so on have numerous exploration ships designated as scientific research vessels.
Exploration vessels are used for high-level military and defence purposes.
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