/sci/ - Science & Math

>>4495293

Very cool. But you know, if Mars had just enough pressure to retain liquid water, and ambient pressure habitat perhaps 30 feet down would produce Earth normative pressure inside. And even if the air outside was too thin to breathe, th eact of compressing it as it is sent down to the habitat would increase it to breathable levels. Cheap, transparent vinyl sheeting could be used to form inflated positive pressure underwater domed living spaces, and if it were microporous like thin sheet silicone it would passively extract oxygen from the surrounding water and remove CO2 without using any electricity or absorbant. The simplest possible undersea life support system. The Russians actually made a habitat like this in the 70s, looked like a billowy jellyfish from the outside.

Pic: Baylab, another affordably rentable underwater lab currently chillin in the Chesapeake bay. Not much to look at but it would do the job.

>>4292537

It was unintended. I guess that sort of thing does slip into your vocabulary over time when you focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others.

Pic: Baylab. Extremely ghetto, but still in operation in Chesapeake Bay. Uses a very unique low power life support system that can run for several days without a surface buoy on battery power. In fact the entire thing is battery powered and must be recharged by a supply boat periodically. The upside is it's extremely independent from shore and does not have the ongoing expense of gasoline generators like Aquarius does.

Here's another currently active lab, although it's rarely mentioned because it's so rudimentary. Baylab is in Chesapeake Bay in around 30 feet of water. The design includes a ballast tray that can be used to float the lab out to different sites, then you shovel sand into it to sink the habitat. The entire thing runs off of a 12 volt system and contains hot-swappable battery pods to keep equipment running for long periods without any support from the surface.

Here's the baylab habitat, the ballast tray doubles as a floating platform for moving it out to the sinking site.