Design and Offshore Tests of Multipurpose Deep-Sea Lander

Deep-sea landers are critical platforms for benthic ecosystem monitoring, environmental sampling, and in-situ data acquisition in the deep ocean. This study presents the development and implementation of an innovative deep-sea lander system, which was engineered by the Taiwan Ocean Research Institute of the National Applied Research Laboratories (TORI NARLabs). The platform features an aluminum alloy framework integrated with syntactic foam buoyancy elements, offering multiple modular mounting points and a payload capacity of 1000kg to support diverse scientific instrumentation. A distinctive twin-body configuration was specifically engineered to address the challenges posed by Taiwan's predominantly muddy seafloor, effectively preventing substrate adhesion and platform subsidence. Field validation trials successfully demonstrated the lander's operational effectiveness by collecting chemical parameters, biological samples, and photographic documentation, confirming its viability for deep-sea research applications.