Underwater habitat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Underwater habitats are research facilities that are fixed underwater and are able to support human life. Underwater habitats have been, and are used to research the physiological mechanisms which serve as a barrier to deep-diving, for aquanaut and astronaut training as well as for research on marine ecosystems.
Underwater habitats are designed to operate in three fundamental modes.
- One: completely open to ambient pressure so that the pressure inside the habitat is equal to the pressure outside such as SEALAB.
- Two: underwater habitats are designed to operate at pressures less than ambient pressure so that the aquanaut is enclosed and locked out of direct assess to the sea, such as Aquarius (laboratory).
- Three: underwater habitats are designed to operate in a combination of modes, so that some chambers are depressurized and locked out while other parts of the underwater facility are not.
An aquanaut is the occupant and operator living aboard an underwater habitat. An aquanaut is defined as anyone who remains submerged in a fixed underwater habitat in the ocean for a period not less than 24 hours. The first human aquanaut was Robert Stenuit who lived onboard a tiny one man cylinder habitat at 200 feet for 24 hours in September 1962 off Villefranche on the French Riviera.
There have been many habitats designed, built and used around the world since the early 1960's, either by private individuals or by government agencies.
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[edit] Conshelf I, II and III
Conshelf, short for Continental Shelf Station, was a series of undersea living and research stations undertaken by Jacques Cousteau's team in the 1960's. The original design was for five of these stations to be submerged to a maximum depth of 300m over the decade; in reality only three were completed with a maximum depth of 100m. Much of the work was funded in part by the French Petrochemical industry, who, along with Cousteau, hoped that such manned colonies could serve as base stations for the future exploitation of the sea. Such colonies did not find a productive future, however, as Cousteau later repudiated his support for such exploitation of the sea and put his efforts toward conservation. It was also found in later years that industrial tasks underwater could be more efficiently performed by undersea robot devices and men operating from the surface or from smaller lowered structures, made possible by a more advanced understanding of diving physiology. Still, these three undersea living experiments did much to advance man's knowledge of undersea technology and physiology, and were valuable as "proof of concept" constructs. They also did much to publicize oceanographic research and, ironically, usher in an age of ocean conservation through building public awareness. Along with Sealab and others, it spawned a generation of smaller, less ambitous yet longer-term undersea habitats primarily for marine research purposes. (See below)
Conshelf I (Continental Shelf Station), constructed in 1962 was the first inhabited underwater habitat. Developed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau to record basic observations of life underwater, Conshelf I was submerged in 10 metres of water near Marseilles, and the first experiment involved a team of two spending seven days in the habitat. The two oceanauts, Albert Falco and Andre Laban, were expected to spend at least five hours a day outside of the station, and were subject to daily medical exams. They were among the first to breath a mixture of helium and oxygen, avoiding the normal nitrogen/oxygen mixture which when breathed under pressure can cause temporary mental instability. This was also an early effort in saturation diving, in which the oceanauts' body tissues were allowed to be saturated by residual helium in the blood, a natural effect of breathing the mixture under pressure, which would not be harmful until the oceanauts returned to the surface, at which time the divers would be afflicted with a serious case of the bends. (The effect is the same for divers breathing the usual nitrogen/oxygen mix under pressure, requiring decompression.) The helium was purged from their systems by breathing an oxygen-rich mixture.
Conshelf Two, the first ambitious attempt for men to live and work on the sea floor, was launched in 1963. In it, a half-dozen oceanauts lived 10 meters down in the Red Sea off Sudan in a star-fish shaped house for 30 days. The undersea living experiment also had two other structures, one a submarine hangar that housed a small, two man submarine referred to as the "diving saucer" for its resemblance to a science fiction flying saucer, and a smaller "deep cabin" where two oceanauts lived at a depth of 30 meters for a week. The undersea colony was supported with air, water, food, power, all essentials of life, from a large support team above. Men on the bottom performed a number of experiments intended to determine the practicality of working on the sea floor and were subjected to continual medical examinations. Conshelf II was a defining effort in the study of diving physiology and technology, and captured wide public appeal due to its dramatic "Jules Verne" look and feel. A Cousteau-produced feature film about the effort was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary the following year.
Conshelf III was tested in 1965, six divers lived in the habitat at 100 metres in the Mediterranean near the Île du Levant for three weeks. In this effort, Cousteau was determined to make the station more self-sufficient, severing most ties with the surface. A mock oil rig was set up underwater, and divers successfully performed several industrial tasks.
[edit] SEALAB I, II and III
- See main article SEALAB
SEALAB was developed by the United States Navy, primarily to research the physiological aspects of saturation diving.
[edit] Tektite I and II
The Tektite underwater habitat was constructed by General Electric and was funded by NASA, the Office of Naval Research and the Department of Interior.
On February 15, 1969, four U. S. Department of Interior scientists descended to the ocean floor in Great Lameshur Bay in the U. S. Virgin Islands and occupied the Tektite I. By March 18, 1969, the four aquanauts had established a new world's record for saturated diving by a single team. On April 15, 1969, the aquanaut team returned to the surface with over 58 days of marine scientific studies.
The Tektite II missions were carried out in 1970. Tektite II comprised ten missions lasting 10-20 days with four scientists and an engineer on each mission. The Tektite II missions were the first to undertake in-depth ecological studies.
[edit] Hydrolab
Hydrolab was constructed in 1966 and used as a research station from 1970, the project was in part funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Hydrolab could house 4 people. Approximately 180 Hydrolab missions were conducted; 100 missions in the Bahamas during the early to mid 1970s, and 80 missions in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, from 1977 to 1985 .
The habitat was decommissioned in 1985 and placed on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National History Museum in Washington, D.C.. The habitat is now located at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring, MD.
[edit] Aquarius
- See main article Aquarius.
Aquarius is presently one of the world's only operational underwater laboratories. It is located adjacent to a coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
[edit] MarineLab
The MarineLab [1] underwater laboratory is the longest serving seafloor habitat in history, having operated continuously in an unbroken service since 1984 under the direction of aquanaut Chris Olstad [2] at Key Largo, Florida. The seafloor laboratory has trained hundreds of individuals in that time featuring an extensive array of educational and scientific investigations from US Military investigations to pharmaceutical development.
[edit] Scott Carpenter space analog station
The Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station designed, constructed and operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA from 1997-1998 as a seafloor platform for the investigation of aspects of Advanced Space Life Support Systems and as an educational and outreach platform.
[edit] La Chalupa Research Laboratory
In the early 70's, Ian Koblick, president of Marine Resources Development Foundation, developed and operated the La Chalupa research laboratory, which was the largest and most technologically advanced underwater habitat of its time. Koblick, who has continued his work as a pioneer in developing advanced undersea programs for ocean science and education, is the co-author of the book "Living and Working in the Sea" and is considered one of the foremost authorities on undersea habitation.
In the mid 80's La Chalupa was transformed into Jules' Undersea Lodge. Jules' co-developer Dr. Neil Monney formerly served as Professor and Director of Ocean Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy, and has extensive experience as a research scientist, aquanaut, and designer of underwater habitats. Jules' has had over 10,000 overnight guests in its 20 years of operation. It is still the only underwater hotel in the world. [3]
[edit] References
- BBC. Living under the sea
- Colette, B.B. Results of the Tektite program: Ecology of coral-reef fishes
- Middleton, N. Conshelf - Cousteau’s Cutting Edge
- Miller, J.W. 1970. Tektite: Expectations and costs. Science 169: 1264-1265.
- Miller, J.W., Koblick, I. 1997. Living and Working in the Sea
[edit] External links
- Jules' Undersea Lodge
- Trilobis 65 Floating Home
- US Naval Undersea Museum SEALAB II Display
