DOCSLIB.ORG

Why an Underwater Habitat? Underwater Habitats Are Useful Because They Provide a Permanent Working Area for Aquanauts (Divers) W

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Why an Underwater Habitat? Underwater Habitats Are Useful Because They Provide a Permanent Working Area for Aquanauts (Divers) W [Type a quote from the document or the summary of an interesting point. You can position the text box anywhere in the document. Use the Drawing Tools tab to change the formatting of the pull quote text box.] Abstract What are the different types of Underwater Habitat and how do they differ? What is the Technology used in Underwater Habitats? Underwater habitats are useful study environments for researchers including marine biologists, There are three main types of underwater habitat that are distinguished from one psychologists studying the effects of prolonged periods of isolation in extreme environments, another by how they deal with water and air pressure. The first type, open To access an underwater lab, divers sometimes swim or take submersibles and physiologists studying how life adapts to different pressures. The technologies used and pressure, has an air pressure inside that is equal to the water pressure outside. which then dock with the facility. Shallow habitats may even be accessed by data gleaned from these studies have applications in space research, and in the future Decompression is required for divers returning to the surface from this type of climbing a ladder or taking an elevator. Deep-sea labs have been taken by crane underwater habitats can be used for industrial activity such as mining the deep sea, and facility, but they are able to go in and out of the laboratory on diving missions with from a boat and placed in the sea. In those labs deep underwater, it becomes expansion of these technologies extends humanity’s reach across earth’s biosphere into its relative ease, due to the fact that they don’t need to acclimate to differing dangerous to breathe in the same air as on the surface because the nitrogen oceans. Although implementation is relatively costly, it is worth it because of the important and pressures from the water and within the facility. These facilities use air locks and that makes up 78% of the air we breathe has harmful effects in the bloodstream useful data that can be taken and the testing that is possible on subjects as varied as biology, moon pools to separate the inner habitat from the cold outer ocean. The closed at those pressures. Instead, a mixture of helium and oxygen is breathed; physiology, psychology and new technology. pressure habitat has an air pressure equal to atmospheric air pressure at the however, breathing helium disperses body heat more rapidly and causes a surface, meaning that a diver can go from the surface to the lab without having to modulation in frequency when speaking, which can then create a communication acclimatize to a change in pressure. A closed pressure system also allows for barrier. To combat the heat problem, underwater habitats are built with thick, delivery of supplies via submersibles that are at the same pressure. Like open heavy insulation to keep them warm and comfortable for the divers who will stay pressure habitats, closed pressure habitats also use air locks to regulate access to in them. The water around the facility can be as chilly as 32 degrees Fahrenheit; and from the facility a combination of these two systems is the third type of habitat, fortunately, even deep below the sea it is possible to take a hot shower using Why an Underwater Habitat? one that has both an open and closed pressure system as part of the same habitat. water pumped in from the surface. Underwater habitats have been built using Divers are thus able to go from the lab to the outside using the open pressure part strong metals, most often reinforced steel (Orbital Vector). Their designs are Underwater habitats are useful because they provide a permanent working area for aquanauts of the habitat, and from the lab to the surface using the closed pressure area of the rounded or spherical in order to equalize pressure from the inside. Submarines’ (divers) who have a lot of work to do at depth. The principle behind an underwater habitat is a habitat (Orbital Vector). characteristic oval shape comes from the same logic; a rounded form disperses concept known as saturation diving – when divers remain below sea level, their bodies acclimate to pressure more efficiently than does an angular form. Up to this point, underwater the pressure by accruing concentrations of inert gases in the bloodstream. This is why when habitats have used “umbilical cords” to maintain contact with the surface. These returning to the surface they are at risk for decompression sickness, or the bends. With saturation cords provide hot water, electricity, communication, air and even television from diving, they remain submerged until their blood is saturated with these gases; they only surface the surface. A diver named Lloyd Godson recently made waves by building his once, so less time is wasted reacclimatizing to the surface pressure. The research that is done in own underwater habitat, and using a green algae, Chlorella, to produce his own these facilities benefits a wide variety of fields, in particular space science (Hellwarth). Divers air. With a device called a Biocoil, he harnessed the power of photosynthesis to remaining deep underwater are in a similar situation to astronauts who stay in space for extended replenish his air supply and recycle the carbon dioxide he exhaled (Scheffler). periods of time – in both scenarios, they are away from what they are familiar with, and are placed He also used a stationary bicycle to generate some of his electricity, though he into unfamiliar and hostile environments far from their natural habitat. used an umbilical cord to make sure that he would survive. In the future, it is also possible that power will be generated using the power of the waves on the surface, or from geothermal vents at the bottom of the sea. What is the History of Underwater Habitats? The idea of saturation diving to eliminate the costs, monetary and health-wise, associated with the time-consuming process of acclimatization from deep dives, was the ingenuity of a Navy doctor, Captain George F. Bond, in 1957. By keeping the diver at the same pressure until the mission was completed, physiological damage from decompression sickness would be reduced (HowItWorks.com). Jacques Cousteau from France and Edwin A. Link from the United States developed projects based on the idea. Two divers lived for a week 36 feet beneath the surface in Cousteau’s first habitat, Conshelf I. Conshelf II, in 1963, held five men for a month and had a port for a submersible called a diving saucer, so-called for its resemblance to the flying saucers of science fiction (Cousteau Society). Conshelf III was the first underwater habitat with its own The picture above shows a diver outside of the Aquarius facility located in the compression system in 1969. Link’s original project, called Man-In-The-Sea, was a capsule with a Florida Keys. diver inside that submerged to 200 feet below the surface for 24 hours. The U.S. Navy took his idea and ran with it to create the SEALAB program which, alongside NASA’s space program, took The air we breathe at the surface contains 78% nitrogen, but the gas mixtures man to new extremes. In 1964, four divers lived for eleven days 192 feet below the surface off the breathed by divers substitute helium or a mixture of helium-hydrogen in place of coast of Bermuda in SEALAB I, an open pressure laboratory. SEALAB II, in 1965, in La Jolla What is the future of Underwater Habitats? the nitrogen to prevent harmful bubbles in divers’ bloodstreams Canyon off the coast of California, three teams of divers were submerged to 62 meters for 15 days. One diver and astronaut, Scott Carpenter, set a record by being underwater for 30 days. As technology evolves, more underwater habitats can be expected. Artificial Unlike SEALAB I, SEALAB II had hot showers and refrigeration. 186 m deep off the coast of San gill technology will allow respirators to harvest breathable air from the water Clemente, California, SEALAB III was not very successful. Plans for divers to spend 45 days outside of the habitat. Power may be taken from sources in the environment the habitat is placed in, eliminating the need for umbilical cords to the surface underwater never happened as SEALAB had its first casualty, a diver succumbing to carbon Literature Cited monoxide poisoning while attempting to repair the leaking laboratory. His name was Barry L. (Scheffler). Dennis Chamberland, a marine researcher, is busy at work on the Bergman, Jennifer. "Temperature of Ocean Water."Windows to the Universe. Windows to the Universe, Cannon (U.S. Navy Museum). The SEALAB program became the Tektite program, with the Atlantica expedition, a permanent undersea habitat populated by a ‘family’ of 16 2011. Web. 9 Dec 2012. <http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/temp.html>. Tektite habitat built by General Electric being used by the U.S. Navy. Divers with that program set researchers (“Futurist”). It is reminiscent of fiction, such as the book Sphere or the record by being underwater for 60 days (Dmitrityeva). After Tektite came the Hydrolab, in use the videogame Bioshock in its hope and ambition. Underwater hotels in Dubai Bilton, Peter. "Jacques Yves Cousteau: the Man Who Taught the World About the Mysteries of the from 1970 to 1985 for 150 missions off the coast of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, and Fiji are already under construction, with Dubai’s Hydropolis estimated to Deep." Knoji: History. Knoji, 20 2010. Web. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://history.knoji.com/jacques-yves- cousteau-the-man-who-taught-the-world-about-the-mysteries-of-the-deep/>.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FILE COPY Scripps Institution of Oceanography TABLE of CONTENTS
    Marine Physical Laboratory The Scientific Research Support Potential of the Submersible MARITAL/A 3GST9 Andreas B. Rechnitzer (Viking Oceanographics, 1345 Lomita Road, El Cajon, California 92020). MPL TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM 420 April1990 Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. University of California, San Diego FILE COPY Scripps Institution of Oceanography TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 OBJECTIVE AND APPROACH 4 BACKGROUND 6 THE MARITALIA 3GST9 7 NATIONAL OCEAN RESEARCH THRUSTS 9 SIO SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP 12 DISCUSSION 13 2 I I 1111 I SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SAFETY CERTIFICATION 29 CONCLUSIONS 30 ACKNO~EDGEMENTS 31 REFERENCES 32 APPENDIX A, OCEANLAB CONCEPT REVIEW 34 APPENDIX B, SIO MARITALIA 3GST9 WORKSHOP April13, 1989 36 APPENDIX C, SCIENTISTS INTERESTED IN USE OF 3GST9 38 APPENDIX D, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AREAS .. 41 APPENDIX E, INSTRUMENTATION OPTIONS 45 3 II I1111---·--------------- The Scientific Research Support Potential of the Submersible MARITALIA 3GST9 INTRODUCTION Deep submergence facilities are now considered to be a vital component of the U. S. Navy fleet and the National Oceanographic Laboratory System facilities inventory. Scientific use of manned submersible systems is now routinely applied to a broad range of scientific disciplines. Advancements in deep submergence technologies continue to require evaluation and assessment for their scientific support potential. This study report assesses the scientific support potential of a specific new diver lockout submersible, the MARITALIA (3GST9), that may be added to the
    [Show full text]
  • Standard Operating Procedures for Scientific Diving
    Standard Operating Procedures for Scientific Diving The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas Texas 78373 Amended January 9, 2020 1 This standard operating procedure is derived in large part from the American Academy of Underwater Sciences standard for scientific diving, published in March of 2019. FOREWORD “Since 1951 the scientific diving community has endeavored to promote safe, effective diving through self-imposed diver training and education programs. Over the years, manuals for diving safety have been circulated between organizations, revised and modified for local implementation, and have resulted in an enviable safety record. This document represents the minimal safety standards for scientific diving at the present day. As diving science progresses so must this standard, and it is the responsibility of every member of the Academy to see that it always reflects state of the art, safe diving practice.” American Academy of Underwater Sciences ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Academy thanks the numerous dedicated individual and organizational members for their contributions and editorial comments in the production of these standards. Revision History Approved by AAUS BOD December 2018 Available at www.aaus.org/About/Diving Standards 2 Table of Contents Volume 1 ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Section 1.00 GENERAL POLICY ........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • DNVGL-OS-E402 Diving Systems
    OFFSHORE STANDARDS DNVGL-OS-E402 Edition January 2017 Diving systems The content of this service document is the subject of intellectual property rights reserved by DNV GL AS ("DNV GL"). The user accepts that it is prohibited by anyone else but DNV GL and/or its licensees to offer and/or perform classification, certification and/or verification services, including the issuance of certificates and/or declarations of conformity, wholly or partly, on the basis of and/or pursuant to this document whether free of charge or chargeable, without DNV GL's prior written consent. DNV GL is not responsible for the consequences arising from any use of this document by others. The electronic pdf version of this document, available free of charge from http://www.dnvgl.com, is the officially binding version. DNV GL AS FOREWORD DNV GL offshore standards contain technical requirements, principles and acceptance criteria related to classification of offshore units. © DNV GL AS January 2017 Any comments may be sent by e-mail to [email protected] This service document has been prepared based on available knowledge, technology and/or information at the time of issuance of this document. The use of this document by others than DNV GL is at the user's sole risk. DNV GL does not accept any liability or responsibility for loss or damages resulting from any use of this document. CHANGES – CURRENT This document supersedes DNV-OS-E402 Offshore standard for Diving systems, October 2010 and DNV-DS- E403 Standard for Surface Diving Systems, July 2012 Changes in this document are highlighted in red colour.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations Project (NEEMO) 15
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations Project (NEEMO) 15 facts XV NASA possible t-shirt colors Space exploration presents many unique aquanauts, live in the world’s only undersea challenges to humans. In order to prepare laboratory, the Aquarius, located 3.5 miles astronauts for these extreme environments off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. in space, NASA engineers and scientists use comparable environments on Earth. Most underwater activities are One of the most extreme environments is accomplished by traditional scuba diving, the ocean. Not only is the ocean a harsh but divers are limited to specific amounts of and unpredictable environment, but it has time because of the risk of decompression many parallels to the challenges of living sickness (often called the “bends”). Based and working in space – particularly in on the depth and the amount of time spent destinations with little or no gravity, such as underwater, inert gases such as nitrogen asteroids. will build up in the human body. If a diver ascends out of the water too quickly, the The NASA Extreme Environment Mission gases that were absorbed can create Operations project, known as NEEMO, bubbles within the diver’s body as the sends groups of astronauts, engineers, surrounding pressure reduces. doctors and professional divers to live in an underwater habitat for up to three weeks A technique known as saturation diving at a time. These crew members, called allows people to live and work underwater for days or weeks at a time. After twenty four hours Station, which has served as the living quarters for at any underwater depth, the human body becomes Expedition crew members.
    [Show full text]
  • Ear Disorders in Scuba Divers
    Review Ear Disorders in Scuba Divers MH Azizi Abstract Academy of Medical History of underwater diving dates back to antiquity. Breath-hold technique in diving was Sciences of the IR Iran, known to the ancient nations. However, deep diving progressed only in the early decades of Tehran, Iran the 19th century as the result of advancements in efficient underwater technologies which subsequently led to invention of sophisticated sets of scuba diving in the 20th century. Currently, diving is performed for various purposes including commercial, recreational, mili- tary, underwater construction, oil industry, underwater archeology and scientific assessment of marine life. By increasing popularity of underwater diving, dive-related medical conditions gradually became more evident and created a new challenge for the health care profession- als, so that eventually, a specialty the so-called “diving medicine” was established. Most of the diving-associated disorders appear in the head and neck. The most common of all occupational disorders associated with diving are otologic diseases. External otitis has been reported as the most common otolaryngologic problem in underwater divers. Exostosis of the external ear canal may be formed in divers as the result of prolonged diving in cold waters. Other disorders of the ear and paranasal sinuses in underwater divers are caused by barometric pressure change (i.e., barotraumas), and to a lesser extent by decompression sickness. Barotrauma of the middle ear is the most prevalent barotrauma in divers. The inner ear barotraumas, though important, is less common. The present paper is a brief overview of diving-related ear disorders particularly in scuba div- ers.
    [Show full text]
  • Saturation Diving Is Used for Deep Salvage Or Recovery Using U.S
    CHAPTER 15 6DWXUDWLRQ'LYLQJ 15-1 INTRODUCTION 15-1.1 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to familiarize divers with U.S. Navy satu- ration diving systems and deep diving equipment. 15-1.2 Scope. Saturation diving is used for deep salvage or recovery using U.S. Navy deep diving systems or equipment. These systems and equipment are designed to support personnel at depths to 1000 fsw for extended periods of time. SECTION ONE — DEEP DIVING SYSTEMS 15-2 APPLICATIONS The Deep Diving System (DDS) is a versatile tool in diving and its application is extensive. Most of today’s systems employ a multilock deck decompression chamber (DDC) and a personnel transfer capsule (PTC). Non-Saturation Diving. Non-saturation diving can be accomplished with the PTC pressurized to a planned depth. This mode of operation has limited real time application and therefore is seldom used in the U.S. Navy. Saturation Diving. Underwater projects that demand extensive bottom time (i.e., large construction projects, submarine rescue, and salvage) are best con- ducted with a DDS in the saturation mode. Conventional Diving Support. The DDC portion of a saturation system can be employed as a recompression chamber in support of conventional, surface- supplied diving operations. 15-3 BASIC COMPONENTS OF A SATURATION DIVE SYSTEM The configuration and the specific equipment composing a deep diving system vary greatly based primarily on the type mission for which it is designed. Modern systems however, have similar major components that perform the same functions despite their actual complexity. Major components include a PTC, a PTC handling system, and a DDC.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Last of the Earth's Frontiers': Sealab, the Aquanaut, and the US
    ‘The Last of the earth’s frontiers’: Sealab, the Aquanaut, and the US Navy’s battle against the sub-marine Rachael Squire Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD, University of London, 2017 Declaration of Authorship I, Rachael Squire, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ___Rachael Squire_______ Date: __________9.5.17________ 2 Contents Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 List of figures……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 List of abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 Preface: Charting a course: From the Bay of Gibraltar to La Jolla Submarine Canyon……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13 The Sealab Prayer………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18 Chapter 1: Introducing Sealab …………………………………………………………………………… 19 1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….... 20 1.1 Empirical and conceptual opportunities ……………………....................... 24 1.2 Thesis overview………………………………………………………………………………. 30 1.3 People and projects: a glossary of the key actors in Sealab……………… 33 Chapter 2: Geography in and on the sea: towards an elemental geopolitics of the sub-marine …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 39 2.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………. 40 2.1 The sea in geography……………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Full Document (Pdf 2154
    White Paper Research Project T1803, Task 35 Overwater Whitepaper OVERWATER STRUCTURES: MARINE ISSUES by Barbara Nightingale Charles A. Simenstad Research Assistant Senior Fisheries Biologist School of Marine Affairs School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC) University of Washington, Box 354802 University District Building 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 535 Seattle, Washington 98105-4631 Washington State Department of Transportation Technical Monitor Patricia Lynch Regulatory and Compliance Program Manager, Environmental Affairs Prepared for Washington State Transportation Commission Department of Transportation and in cooperation with U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration May 2001 WHITE PAPER Overwater Structures: Marine Issues Submitted to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Washington Department of Ecology Washington Department of Transportation Prepared by Barbara Nightingale and Charles Simenstad University of Washington Wetland Ecosystem Team School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences May 9, 2001 Note: Some pages in this document have been purposefully skipped or blank pages inserted so that this document will copy correctly when duplexed. TECHNICAL REPORT STANDARD TITLE PAGE 1. REPORT NO. 2. GOVERNMENT ACCESSION NO. 3. RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NO. WA-RD 508.1 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. REPORT DATE Overwater Structures: Marine Issues May 2001 6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION CODE 7. AUTHOR(S) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NO. Barbara Nightingale, Charles Simenstad 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. WORK UNIT NO. Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC) University of Washington, Box 354802 11. CONTRACT OR GRANT NO. University District Building; 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 535 Agreement T1803, Task 35 Seattle, Washington 98105-4631 12.
    [Show full text]
  • ( [The Ad Id="41"]
    Trending Disruption and Resilience (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/2018/06/23/disruption-and-resilience/) 0 (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/2018/06/23/disruption-and-r Account (https://technicacuriosa.com?go_tesilience/#respond)o_user_login=1) (https://technicacuriosa.com/) (https://popularelectronics.technicacuriosa.com/) SWITCH CHANNELS HERE (https://popularastronomy.technicacuriosa.com/) (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/) [the_ad id="41"] ABOUT (HTTPS://MECHANIXILLUSTRATED.TECHNICACURIOSA.COM/ABOUT/) CONTRIBUTE SUBSCRIBE (HTTP://TECHNICACURIOSA.COM/?SUBSCRIBE_TO_CHANNEL=1) CONTACT (HTTPS://MECHANIXILLUSTRATED.TECHNICACURIOSA.COM/CONTACT/) Moonshots book cover World-changing Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mindset Revealed: Learn how curiosity, imagination, and exponential possibility are enabling life without limits. (https://amzn.to/2QyL925) Diving Tech (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/category/diving-tech/) 0 (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/2018/04/23/navy-diver-future/#respond) THE NAVY DIVER OF THE FUTURE (HTTPS://MECHANIXILLUSTRATED.TECHNICACURIOSA.COM/2018/04/23/NAVY- DIVER-FUTURE/) And the Recent Efforts in Returning Mankind to the Deep Sea By Bhargav Gajjar (https://mechanixillustrated.technicacuriosa.com/author/bgajjar/) SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental high pressure, underwater habitats developed by the United States Navy in the late 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving. The program illuminated the path towards extended human life in the last frontier—the deep sea. Figure 1. US Navy Sea Lab II Crew. Former astronaut Scott Carpenter, Team One leader, is second from left in the front row. In so-called saturation diving, the divers live in a pressurized environment, a hyperbaric environment on the surface, or an ambient pressure underwater habitat. These habitats may be maintained for up to several weeks. However, aquanauts working in these conditions are gradually decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their tour of duty.
    [Show full text]
  • Cockrell Bio Current
    Biographical Data Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058 National Aeronautics and Space Administration SCOTT CARPENTER NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER) Scott Carpenter, a dynamic pioneer of modern exploration, has the unique distinction of being the first human ever to penetrate both inner and outer space, thereby acquiring the dual title, Astronaut/Aquanaut. He was born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, the son of research chemist Dr. M. Scott Carpenter and Florence Kelso Noxon Carpenter. He attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949 and received a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Carpenter was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1949. He was given flight training at Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas and designated a Naval Aviator in April, 1951. During the Korean War he served with patrol Squadron Six, flying anti-submarine, ship surveillance, and aerial mining, and ferret missions in the Yellow Sea, South China Sea, and the Formosa Straits. He attended the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1954 and was subsequently assigned to the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center, also at Patuxent. In that assignment he flew tests in every type of naval aircraft, including multi- and single-engine jet and propeller-driven fighters, attack planes, patrol bombers, transports, and seaplanes. From 1957 to 1959 he attended the Navy General Line School and the Navy Air Intelligence School and was then assigned as Air Intelligence Officer to the Aircraft Carrier, USS Hornet. Carpenter was selected as one of the original seven Mercury Astronauts on April 9, 1959.
    [Show full text]
  • "Aquarius" Undersea Habitat As an Analog for Long- Duration Space Flight
    Source of Acquisiti on NASA Jolmson Space Center The NEEMO Project: A Report on how NASA Utilizes the "Aquarius" Undersea Habitat as an Analog for Long- Duration Space Flight. Bill ToddlUnited Space Alliance Marc Reagan/NASA NEEMO Project Leads Spaceflight Training, NASAJJSC October, 2003 Abstract NEEMO is the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, a cooperative project between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NEEMO was created and is managed by the Mission Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. On the NOAA side, the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) in Key Largo, FL, with the help of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, manages and operates the Aquarius Program. NEEMO was developed by astronaut training specialists to utilize an undersea research habitat as a multi-objective mission analog for long-duration space flight. Each mission was designed to expose astronauts to extreme environments for training purposes and to research crew behavior, habitability, and space analog life sciences. All of this was done much in the model of a space mission utilizing specific crew procedures, mission rules and timelines. Objectives of the missions were very diverse and contained many of the typical space mission type activities such as EV As (also known as extra vehicular activities), in-habitat science and research, and educational, public outreach, and media events. Five missions, dubbed NEEMO 1-5, were conducted between October 2001 and July 2003, the longest of which (NEEMO 5) lasted 14 days. History of NASA Undersea Research Participation The concept ofliving and working in an undersea habitat as an analog for space flight is not a new one.
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping CO2 Concentrations Within a Spaceflight Analog Environment Tristan C
    ICES-2020-51 Mapping CO2 Concentrations Within A Spaceflight Analog Environment Tristan C. Endsley1, Theodore J. Steiner, III2, Forrest E. Meyen3, Kevin R. Duda4 The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, MA, 02139 USA Marcum L. Reagan5 NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058, USA Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been reported to be as high as 10 times greater than ambient levels in a terrestrial environment, which can harm crew performance and productivity. NASA’s personal CO2 monitor provides ISS astronauts with the ability to monitor the CO2 levels, temperature, and humidity via a body-worn system; however, it lacks localization to determine where the sensor measurements were taken. A CO2 sensor was integrated with the Draper Wearable Kinematic System (WKS)— a self-contained, wearable, and hand-portable system for real-time navigation state estimation. The system was demonstrated operationally within the NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission 23. The NEEMO missions are conducted in the Aquarius Reef Base underwater research facility, located 19 m below sea level off the coast of Florida. This Earth-based spaceflight analog environment creates a realistic platform through which to examine human performance and simulate operations that are representative of living and working in space. The WKS – assembled primarily from commercial-off-the-shelf equipment – analyzes the monocular vision and inertial measurement unit data to generate a real-time navigation state estimation utilizing the Draper smoothing and mapping with inertial state estimation (SAMWISE) algorithm. The WKS+CO2 sensor system tracked crew position, velocity, and orientation while mapping CO2 concentrations within the underwater habitat as a function of time during normal daily crew activities.
    [Show full text]