The route of the expedition on the scientific vessel “Pioneer-M” will be shortened in the interests of safety

The route of the first student expedition on the Pioneer-M research vessel will be shortened for safety reasons, and the start of the expedition has been postponed to mid-September, said Vladimir Nechaev, rector of Sevastopol State University (SevGU), TASS informs.

Earlier it was announced that the marine expedition with the participation of students from the universities of the Southern Federal District will take place from August to October along the route from Sevastopol to Sochi.

Nechaev noted that the vessel is at the stage of completion of formalities, such as paperwork, insurance and obtaining permits. Therefore, the start of the expedition has been postponed, and they plan to complete this process by mid-September. Swimming restrictions in many areas also make plans difficult. However, this year it is planned to conduct an interuniversity expedition along the southern coast of Crimea, from Cape Sarych to Feodosia, as this is a more accessible area for swimming. At the moment, the permitted areas for navigation of the Pioneer-M vessel are the waters of the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic Seas. The rector noted that this year it is necessary to test the ship.

Maxim Evstigneev, Vice-Rector for Scientific Activities of SevSU, explained that the shortening of the expedition route this year is due to the need to fully check the operation of all the technical subsystems of the vessel in long-distance voyages.

The expedition group will include teachers and researchers from academic institutions (Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas RAS, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, Marine Hydrophysical Institute RAS) and universities (Baltic Federal, Astrakhan State, Moscow State University), as well as students studying marine sciences . The objectives of the expedition will be interdisciplinary research, including hydrobiology, ecology, geology, hydrology, underwater archeology, as well as testing autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicles.

The Pioneer-M ship was launched on September 24, 2021 at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, and the design was carried out by scientists from Sevastopol State University. The length of the vessel is about 26 meters.