Norwich-based Clarus Networks Group in Earhart search

Norwich-based Clarus Networks Group has partnered with US marine robotics experts Deep Sea Vision to provide high-speed satellite internet connectivity for their search vessel, enabling new sonar imagery to potentially uncover Ms Earhart's lost plane.

Ms Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937. 

Despite numerous attempts throughout the years, the exact crash site - and whereabouts of Ms  Earhart’s missing plane - has remained a mystery.

Amelia Earhart was a pioneering American pilot and author, who’s tragic disappearance nearly 90 years ago continues to capture the imagination of the public (Image: PA)

Now, following a 90-day mission at sea, the team behind the most recent search has unveiled sonar images believed to show Earhart’s Lockheed Electra aircraft resting on the ocean floor.

Using an underwater drone, which the crew named ‘Miss Millie,’ Deep Sea Vision combed more than 5,200 square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

Sonar image side by side with Earhart's plane, at scale. (Image: Deep Sea Vision)

Clarus Networks Group, which opened its first English office in Norwich last year, facilitated the mission by deploying low earth orbit satellite technology, called Starlink Maritime, to make sure the vessel could access high-speed internet, even hundreds of miles out to sea.

This allowed the 16-person crew to manage data from Miss Millie, conduct video calls with shore teams, and maintain morale during the extended mission.

Norwich-based Clarus Networks Group has partnered with US marine robotics experts Deep Sea Vision (Image: Deep Sea Vision)

Chris Schonhut, director of maritime and energy at Clarus Networks Group, said: “The enormity of Deep Sea Vision’s mission demonstrates the sheer power of advanced satellite connectivity, allowing the team to search the largest and deepest ocean as a world first. 

“By installing low Earth orbit satellite internet on the search vessel, Clarus used Starlink Maritime to deliver super-fast connectivity to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and Australia, where it would have otherwise been impossible.”

Who was Amelia Earhart?

Amelia Earhart was a pioneering American pilot and author, who’s disappearance nearly 90 years ago continues to capture the imagination of the public.

A record-setting aviator, she was the second person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic and the first person to fly solo and nonstop across the United States. 

Amelia Earhart was a pioneering American pilot and author, who’s tragic disappearance nearly 90 years ago continues to capture the imagination of the public (Image: PA)

But during an attempt at becoming the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, the 39-year old pilot and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. 

They were last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937, on the last land stop before Howland Island and one of their final legs of the flight. 

The leading theory is that having run into bad weather, Earhart and Noonan used up their supply of fuel, and crash-landed in the ocean.

Ms Earhart was officially declared dead around a year after her disappearance, but her body and plane were never located.