R/V Aurora (newbuild no 130) is a Danish research vessel, owned and operated by Aarhus University.
It is rigged as a multi-purpose vessel, with a large working deck and gantry for deployment and recovery of trawl and heavy equipment over the stern. Aurora is classified to sail in the Baltic and the North Sea with an endurance of op to 10 days at sea.
Aurora is designed as a multi-purpose research vessel, with activities centered on the aft working deck, which is large enough to contain two 20′ containers. The containers can contain technical equipment; for example a seismic air gun array or a specialized laboratory in addition to the laboratory on board. Alternatively a trawl winch can be mounted on the deck. Trawl and heavy equipment such as pistoncore samplers can be deployed and recovered by means of the gantry. In addition to the open working deck a sheltered deck with doors to the starboard side allows deployment and recovery of water samplers and CTDs.
Propulsion is delivered by two propellers, each driven by a 368 kW Scania DI13 diesel engine and equipped with a 150 kW bow thruster, which can be used for dynamic positioning. Top speed is 11 kn.
The ship contains three decks. The main deck contains galley and stores in the stern, followed by combined mess, lounge and meeting room and a dry laboratory. Adjacent to the dry lab is the sheltered wet lab, which continues into the open aft deck. Below the main deck is the engine room aft and cabins for the crew (2 single rooms for captain and chief mate, 2 double rooms for deck crew and cook) and scientific crew and students (2 double rooms and 1 four-bunk room). Above the main deck is the bridge deck, separated into the bridge itself, sitting on top of a semi-deck containing ship electronics, and a lower part facing the aft deck and used for computers and other equipment during collection of data from multibeam sonar, seismic streamers and other towed equipment. On top of the bridge is a platform designed for visual surveys for birds and marine mammals.
