Glomar Challenger

The Glomar Challenger was a deep-sea research and scientific drilling vessel designed for oceanography and marine geology studies. It was used in the Deep Sea Drilling Project for obtaining sediment cores from the ocean floor. The drillship was designed, owned, and operated by Global Marine Incorporated (now Transocean) specifically for a long-term contract with the American National Science Foundation and University of California Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It was built by Levingston Shipbuilding Company in Orange, Texas, and launched on March 23, 1968. Glomar is a truncation of Global Marine, while the name Glomar Challenger is a tribute to the 19th-century oceanographic survey vessel HMS Challenger.