This Sci-fi Underwater Base May Soon Be A Reality
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FCOLC, Yves Béhar and fuseproject
From James Cameron's classic [ The Abyss], to [ The Spy Who Loved Me] and [ Sealab 2020] (or [ 2021], Tour Du lịch Côn Đảo if you prefer), sci-fi has had its share of fascinating underwater bases. But the number of aquatic lairs pales in comparison to the number of fictional orbital and outer space stations we've seen in movies and Tour Côn Đảo từ Hà Nội on TV, mirroring the real-life short shrift that we've given undersea research compared to its extraterrestrial equivalent: More humans have been to the moon than the bottom of [ Challenger Deep], the deepest point on Earth.
Despite covering over 70% of the planet, very little of the ocean floor has been explored. We've had a permanent habitat in orbit for over 20 years, but only a handful of short-term research stations underwater.
[/news/live-from-beneath-the-sea-15-minutes-with-fabien-cousteau-video/ Fabien Cousteau], grandson of the [/news/dive-on-in-fabien-cousteau-and-the-urge-to-live-under-the-sea/ legendary explorer Jacques], has announced plans to change that. Cousteau has pitched a new installation called [ Proteus] and it's designed to become the "underwater version of the International Space Station."
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Why an underwater lab?
Underwater research is challenging for a number of reasons, not least of which is time. At best, a person can only stay at depth for a few hours per day. The rest of the day is "wasted" not dying.
If you're not familiar with diving, to survive at any serious depth you're required to breathe compressed air. That's held in the big metal cylinder you see on the back of most scuba divers. Your body reacts differently to this compressed air. It can still process the oxygen just fine, but the nitrogen gets forced into your cells to a far greater extent. This is fine when you're at depth, but when you come up to the surface, that nitrogen expands as the pressure on your body decreases. Ascend too rapidly and it can cause severe, potentially life threatening, issues. Colloquially, this is called [ the bends].
Three groups of divers hold a mooring line at a 5m decompression safety stop at the end of a dive. Note the air tanks.
Geoffrey Morrison/CNET
The deeper you go, or the longer you stay down, the slower you have to take to get back surface. Alternatively, you'll need to spend hours or in extreme cases days, in a decompression chamber. There are [ some ways to minimize this], but for the most part, Tour Côn Đảo Giả Rẻ exploration of the seafloor is an extremely time-intensive process. Every minute on the seafloor requires significant decompression time, often several times as many minutes.
Which is to say, being able to stay on the bottom and not having to come to the surface would greatly increase the amount of time spent continually on exploration and research. Instead of a lengthy decompression after each dive, plus the required safety time between dives, people returning from Proteus would [ just have a single decompression]. Less time wasted in transit, so to speak, more time researching on location.
More on Fabien Cousteau
[/news/live-from-beneath-the-sea-15-minutes-with-fabien-cousteau-video/ Live from beneath the sea: 15 minutes with Fabien Cousteau]
[/news/dive-on-in-fabien-cousteau-and-the-urge-to-live-under-the-sea/ Dive on in: Fabien Cousteau and the urge to live under the sea]
[/pictures/mission-31-a-monthlong-undersea-adventure-pictures/ Mission 31: A monthlong undersea adventure (pictures)]
In a single day on Proteus, scientists could do what would have taken days or weeks with multiple, individual dives.
Cousteau and his partners intend Proteus to be a research hub not just for ocean conservation, but for renewable energy research, food production and even medical and drug development. It could also be a good place to test potential Mars-bound astronauts for how well they handle being cut off from society in a hostile environment.
Sealab 2023
FCOLC, Yves Béhar and fuseproject
The 4,000-square-foot Proteus will be four times larger than any previous underwater station. Researchers will be able to live, eat, and work for weeks at a time. Inside will be research labs, sleeping quarters, a video production studio, and of course a [ moon pool] to get in and out of the water easily. Interestingly, they're also expecting to have a greenhouse, the first of its kind in an underwater station.
Proteus will be able to support up to 12 scientists at a time, not exactly an army of supervillain proportions, but far more than previous stations. That's also twice the complement of the International Space Station, for comparison.
FCOLC, Yves Béhar and fuseproject
Power will be provided by a mix of sustainable sources, like wind, solar, and [ ocean thermal]. Fresh air, power and internet will be provided by an umbilical cable to the surface.
The plan is to build Proteus off the coast of the Caribbean island of [ Curaçao], at a depth of 60 feet (~18m).
