A scientific ocean drone and its "priceless" data has been hauled from a Victorian beach to await retrieval by its US owners.
Its name is saildrone (SD)1023 and it started its uncrewed journey around Antarctica with its sister SD1022 two years ago. Within days though, the former was lost.
Battling the Southern Ocean for two years on its own, facing icebergs, winter storms, and creatures great and small, SD1023 finally made its way to rest on a beach in Waratah Bay, Victoria.
Greg Mouldings from Waratah Bay Marine Rescue found the ocean drone earlier this week.
"We've actually finally got the drone off the beach which was pretty amazing," he said.
"So we've dropped the sail-drone in a local farmer's paddock because you'd never be able to use the shed again.
"We used pine poles as rollers and winched it up onto a trailer, five of us manhandling it."
A robotic research vessel
SD1023 had been collecting data about krill populations in the Southern Ocean before it washed ashore in South Gippsland.
It won't stay in the farmer's paddock for long as it will be sent back to Saildrone, its owner, in San Francisco.
The ocean drone is priceless to the company, which won't put a price on what the research vessel is worth.
There are 100 ocean drones in the company's fleet.
The research vessels are able to travel the world's oceans for up to 12 months to help identify and stop illegal fishing and drug trafficking.
The data collected on missions can also map climatic change or help scientists understand how oceans store and release carbon.
Using wind and solar-powered technology, ocean drones are able to capture and send photographs in real-time of any sealife encountered.
Built to endure 'dangerous' conditions
It is not known how communications were lost with SD1023 or how it became lost.
Its hardware may have been knocked off by an iceberg, but all its data is still intact.
Its sister drone made it back safely. The data collected about krill density is still to be collated and analysed.
Mr Jenkins said he was thankful the drone was located after its arduous mission.
"It's passed Cape Horn over winter and the data it's collected is all still there.
"The Southern Ocean is remote and dangerous so it's the ideal place to deploy robots."
