A drone built by Santa Monica company FlightWave has completed its part in an almost month - long Schmidt Marine Institute mission to assess the health of the world 's seas . The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, and his wife, Wendy, established the Schmidt Ocean Institute in 2009 to support oceanographic research and technology development. The drone , called The Beast , was equipped with thermometer , cameras and the only two gas - smelling sensors in the world , which were donated by NASA , and spent a total of 10 hours measuring a gas emitted by phytoplankton , among other metrics . FlightWave co - founder Trent Lukaczyk said the mission in the South Pacific moved science a step closer to having a " persistent presence in the ocean " .
A drone built by Santa Monica company FlightWave has completed its part in an almost month - long Schmidt Marine Institute mission to assess the health of the world 's seas . The drone , called The Beast , was equipped with thermometer , cameras and the only two gas - smelling sensors in the world , which were donated by NASA , and spent a total of 10 hours measuring a gas emitted by phytoplankton , among other metrics . FlightWave co - founder Trent Lukaczyk said the mission in the South Pacific moved science a step closer to having a " persistent presence in the ocean " .