Eureka III delivers four wet metric tonnes of nodules every 4 hours. Each Eureka IV will deliver 12 metric tons. The breakdown of the mission time for Eureka III is as follows:

  1. Launch Eureka from the transport vessel to the ocean: 1 minute
  2. Dive Eureka to the seabed at 4.7km depth: 70 minutes (~1.1 meters per second)
  3. Harvest nodules to fill Eureka payload: 64 minutes
  4. Rise Eureka up the 4.7km water column: 70 minutes (~1.1 meters per second)
  5. Recovery of Eureka from the ocean to the transport vessel using our Smart Launch and Recovery System (SLARS): 4 minutes
  6. On the vessel: 30 minutes
    1. Unload the Eureka payload of nodules to the transport vessel
    2. Swap the Eureka battery for a fully charged new battery pack
    3. Fill the buoyancy tanks for the next mission
    4. Eureka vehicle maintenance
    5. Download of mission data
    6. Upload of the next mission

Total = 238 minutes or ~4 hours. So in 24 hours, 6 missions can be executed per Eureka III.

Please also see Question I.1 How do you scale to high production rates?

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