Ballard

NARRAGANSETT — For Robert Ballard, the opening of his new Inner Space Center in the University of Rhode Island’s Ocean Science and Exploration Center fulfills a dream he first shared in in an article published in National Geographic magazine in December 1981.

The article described exploring the depths of the oceans with remote-controlled vehicles and video cameras that transmit findings to scientists safely aboard ships on the surface, or in their laboratories at schools across the country.

One way or another, Ballard has been doing such remote explorations and broadcasts for years. Tens of thousands of students have taken part in his Jason Project presentations on research around the world.

But with the formal opening Monday morning of his Inner Space Center, he has a permanent location, equipped with a television production studio and extensive editing equipment.

“This is the hub, the gateway. Everything will converge here,” he said in a telephone interview Friday. “It is huge. The tip of the iceberg.”

By next summer, Ballard expects the Okeanos Explorer, a new research vessel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will be exploring the Pacific. (Eventually, it will be home-ported at Quonset Point.) A second research vessel, funded by his foundation, will explore the Mediterranean.

Both will feed imagery back to his Inner Space Center, where high-speed Internet can distribute it to other oceanographic institutions and to public schools in Rhode Island, which are also wired for advanced Internet transmissions.

Ballard said the system will function like an emergency room. No one knows what will arrive from one day to the next. The ships will be like ambulances working 24 hours a day. When they find something, experts will be on call to go to the studios and evaluate the findings.

“Eighty percent of oceanography is done at 12 locations, and we have six of them wired to our studio already,” said Ballard. “This will make a 28-year dream come true. We now have the final piece of the puzzle.”

plord@projo.com