On: Building a radio-controlled submarine with automat...

[jstanley]

Maybe the antenna could be on a long thin wire with a float so that it is always at the surface?

[BugsJustFindMe → jstanley]

Absolutely could! Some do this. It depends on your chosen operational constraints. Keep in mind that neutrally buoyant cabling isn't particularly compact, so it creates its own set of problems.

[dylan604 → jstanley]

what happens when it submerges lower than the radio buoy's tether?

[jstanley → dylan604]

Then the antenna is submerged, but just make the tether as long as the maximum intended depth.

You can't go infinitely deep anyway, because eventually the pressure will penetrate the seals.

[BugsJustFindMe → jstanley]

> You can't go infinitely deep anyway, because eventually the pressure will penetrate the seals.

This is actually the least useful reason why you can't go infinitely deep. For exploration you will basically always want to be near the bottom of the body of water because mid column is just extremely boring, so you will want to make sure that your pressure tolerance allows for that. We just haven't found any infinitely deep bodies of water yet.

[BugsJustFindMe → dylan604]

Nothing stops you from giving your tethered vehicle an emergency surfacing mechanism. :)

[dylan604 → BugsJustFindMe]

or a strong enough tether and big enough radio buoy so that it can't go deeper