China’s new marine buoy says goodbye to classic Western design used since World War II

A giant orange disc recently settled into the waters off eastern China’s Shandong province, marking the deployment of what Chinese researchers describe as a first-of-its-kind intelligent ocean-observation buoy. It abandons a mooring architecture that has dominated Western marine engineering since World War II. Measuring six metres (19.7 feet) across, the platform has completed sea trials and offic