Mission success! One goal of our Central California expedition was to test elements of the new ABISS autonomous lander and sampling system developed by Dr. Pete Girguis at Harvard University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Part of the first deep sea wireless observatory, the lander won’t need a tether to the surface–scientists will be able to communicate with it using an optical modem. In our test of this “underwater wifi,” the flashing violet LED successfully transmitted video from the lander to ROV Hercules, giving us a selfie view of Herc! After several hours of testing, the lander was released for liftoff back to the surface and recovered by our team. Learn more about this expedition.