In an historic leap for marine technology and global ocean monitoring, a first-of-its-kind autonomous underwater glider has been launched on a mission to circumnavigate the globe – a 73,000 kilometre voyage that promises to transform our understanding of the world’s ocean.
Called the Sentinel Mission, the five year expedition is the collaborative brainchild of Teledyne Marine and scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. At the heart of the mission is Redwing – the most advanced commercial subsea glider ever developed.
The endeavour commenced on 10 October 2025, following a send-off ceremony at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), home to the world’s second-largest fleet of ocean gliders. Redwing was deployed from the continental shelf south of Martha’s Vineyard.
Redwing – short for Research & Education Doug Webb Inter-National Glider – pays tribute to the celebrated engineer Doug Webb, whose pioneering work on autonomous ocean vehicles laid the foundation for this mission. Webb, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 94, first imagined the potential for long-range ocean gliders decades ago.
“This is a truly historic mission,” said Brian Maguire, COO at Teledyne Marine. “It will pave the way for a future global fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles capable of continuously sampling our oceans, delivering real-time data that will improve extreme weather forecasting and enhance climate science.”
Redwing is a next-generation Slocum Sentinel Glider, engineered specifically for ultra-long endurance missions. Powered by gravity and buoyancy alone, it travels in a slow sawtooth pattern, conserving energy while diving to depths of 1,000 metres. With a range of up to 15,000 kilometres per leg, Redwing is equipped to operate continuously for months at sea.
Its carbon fibre hull flexes subtly under pressure, and buoyancy is regulated through an oil-based pump and pitch system, allowing the glider to “surf” ocean currents rather than resist them – an energy-efficient design critical for long-term deployments.
Redwing will surface every eight to 12 hours to transmit data via satellite, relaying a constant stream of information on ocean temperature, salinity, density, current flow, and biological activity to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) global monitoring network.
This real-time data will be publicly available to researchers, meteorologists, policy-makers, and educators around the world.
Original Article at Oceanographic Magazine
