Final visit to the L/B Robert. SCIMPI is fully deployed.

Drilling, coring, and logging were ahead of schedule, so when Max and Ian stepped off the OSV Gaspee onto the L/B Robert at around 18:00 on July 30, 2025, the SCIMPI system was already laid out on deck—with all modules and cables connected, and all floats attached and banded to the cable.

All that remained was to perform some electronic health checks by connecting a computer to the Command Module, and then move the entire system to the drill floor to hoist it overhead and lower it down the drill pipe into the borehole.

However, the health check revealed serious digital communications issues. Subsequent troubleshooting determined that one of the Measurement Modules had suffered board-level electronic component failures inside the pressure housing.

All components had been quality-control checked before shipping, and this type of failure was not anticipated. As a result, there were no spare discrete electronic components and no hot-air solder rework station on the L/B Robert to repair the module. This left the team with two options:

Retrieve and replace the failed PCB: A Transcend team member could retrieve a backup Measurement Supervisor PCB from Colchester, VT, and deliver it to Fall River, MA by around 2:00 a.m., where a “quick-boat” on call for the expedition could shuttle it to the L/B Robert shortly after daybreak. Max could then install it into the failed module.

Bypass the corrupted module: Max could bypass the faulty Measurement Module by wiring from one end-connector to the other, maintaining communication between the remaining modules and the datalogger. However, this would also disconnect the corrupted module’s battery pack—one of four in the system—reducing the system’s stored power by 25%.

Thanks to SCIMPI’s fully modular design, the team devised a hybrid solution.

We physically reconfigured both the affected Measurement Module and the Command Module—removing all but one empty chamber from the former, and adding a chamber containing a battery pack to the latter. Since the electronic failure may have left the damaged module continuously powered for several days, we used a spare battery pack that had not yet been placed under load.

While Max performed the reconfiguration work on the modules, Ian went down to the deck to supervise the movement of the SCIMPI string from the staging area to the drill floor—leaving a gap for the modified module so no time would be lost.

In total, troubleshooting and diagnosis added about two hours to the operation, while repair and recovery took place during time that needed to be spent anyway. The string was fully deployed into the borehole just a few minutes after midnight.

The modular design of the SCIMPI system enabled a graceful and efficient solution, and our team’s rapid, creative problem-solving brought it to fruition.