"The Gold" of Ocean Infinity: the road that the 67,000 photos of the submarine ARA San Juan will make towards the country – 29/11/2018

The ship Seabed Constructor moored in the port of Cape Town and after receiving Captain Gonzalo Prieto, defense attaché in South Africa, focused on the task entrusted to her. A day earlier, he had told Clarin: "They will know how to apologize, but I have to accompany the whole process of downloading information, I can hardly part with this responsibility". And that's what happened. On Thursday morning, from 7 am, as he climbed aboard the Norwegian flag, Prieto hardly went down. He did it only once, to greet the emissaries of this newspaper and participate in the "family photo" with the Argentine observers who participated in the search for the submarine ARA San Juan. Immediately, he returned to his own thing: follow in situ the load of each external hard drive and keep them until they leave for Buenos Aires.

It's "gold" that brought the ship Ocean Infinity to this distant destination. The 67,000 images of the Argentine submarine sunk. And a very accurate bathymetry (a study of relief) of the seabed, which was swept by the expedition. The famous data that must, according to the contract, be transmitted to the Argentine government in its entirety. Only then will the company be able to raise the corresponding $ 7 million. The same contract also states that there can not even be any "backup". Prieto said, before consulting Clarin: "It was agreed with the company that once the data was read in Argentina, the information would be destroyed once the order was placed." In the same vein, the Minister of Defense, Oscar Aguad, said from Buenos Aires: "They can not keep anything, it is a condition for them to collect their work" .

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According to Prieto, the information collected reaches 20 terabytes, a computerized measurement unit describing one of the maximum possible storage volumes. These are mainly sequences of photos and HD footage made throughout the area where the remains of the submarine are scattered. This is not a huge space, but four 60-by-60 squares, on a slightly grooved ground, probably due to the impact of the hull of the ship. The download process could end this Saturday. And then, it remains to define how the data transfer will take place in Argentina. The information must arrive without any scale, beyond the air, in the hands of the judge of Caleta Olivia, Marta Yañez. Until now, it was expected that Naval observers and family representatives would transfer the information. Your date of return to the country is scheduled on Tuesday 3 on a Qatar Airways flight, via Doha.

Cape Town. Correspondent