Can robots stop Gulf of Mexico oil spill?
(Credit: U.S. Coast Guard) It’s robots to the rescue in the Gulf of Mexico–or at least that’s what British oil giant BP hopes following a disastrous explosion and oil spill at the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig, 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. Officials have deployed robotic submarines in an effort to contain the spill, which has grown to cover an area measuring some 1,900 square miles. BP quoted National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts as saying the spill is “very thin” and on the surface of the ocean.
