Robotic gliders allow researchers to collect data in severe weather conditions without risking lives. In 2009 Hurricane Bill passed to the north during the Scarlet Knight’s mission, producing large waves that battered the glider and challenging scientists trying to reach it for an inspection. Following the path of Christopher Columbus’s Pinta, the Scarlet Knight crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed in Baiona, Spain, on Dec. 9, 2009, becoming the first unmanned robotic glider to cross an ocean basin.