The SeaSearcher™ has been tested in a variety of environments including the lab, a test pool, lake, and the open ocean at numerous depths (both water and sub-bottom). The open ocean is where those very cool looking Seafarer Exploration coins come into play. They are 99.99% pure copper. Copper coins are an excellent metal target like silver and gold for the SeaSearcher sensor arrays. So, we had hundreds of SeaSearcher coins minted. In most cases, they are as good as gold (or silver). Where they aren’t, we have gold and silver to use too. We hydro-probe down and bury the coins at known locations below the ocean bottom. Location, placement, and conditions are coordinated using a diver comms system. We test different sizes, shapes, depths, and amounts. We scan over these coins to verify and tune the SeaSearcher’s performance before we scan prospective target areas. As you can see from the picture, they age pretty quickly! These coins were on the ocean bottom for just a few months. Also, here’s a screen-grab of what we see when we scan a real target. We see each object from just about every angle. We also see all those pesky seashells, rocks, strata changes, and other transient obstructions we have to get rid of through signal processing. What’s left is our target as little round pixels. The Sub-Floor Target Map shows us the shape of the object the hardest parts down to within inches. All of this is done in real-time. After that, the Discovery team goes to work to fully investigate.