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(Credit: Northrop Grumman/DARPA) The Manta Ray prototype uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) has successfully completed initial full-scale tests in an ocean environment, according to an update that appeared at the website of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Built by aerospace and defense technology giants Northrop Grumman, Manta Ray’s first ocean tests were carried out off the coast of Southern California between February and March 2024, featuring submerged operations that allowed each of the new UUV’s modes of control and propulsion to be engaged. An extra-large glider UUV designed to carry out long-range and long-duration missions in undersea environments, DARPA’s...

March 17 (UPI) -- A photographer taking pictures of a surfer at a Florida beach captured a rare shot when the man was photobombed by a wave-jumping manta ray. Rusty Escandell said he was visiting the beach near Patrick Space Force Base in Satellite Beach with his son when he decided to take some photos of a surfer out on the water. "To be frank with you, I was actually focusing on the surfer. I was doing a burst, catching several frames, and it wasn't until I got home and I was reviewing the pictures that I actually saw what...

When photographer Kristian Laine went out to the Great Barrier Reef near Lady Elliot Island to photograph some turtles, manta rays, and sharks, he wasn't expecting to stumble across the only known pink manta ray in the world. "I had never even heard of a pink manta and when I first saw it, I thought my camera was playing up," he told ScienceAlert. "Only later that night I saw a photo of a pink manta on the restaurant's notice board and thought it was a joke until I rushed to check the belly patterns in my camera." The pink reef...