/sci/ - Science & Math

Biorock accretion really is a cool technology, but to work it needs a very low maintinence on-site power source that doesn't pollute (as coral is extremely sensitive to contaminants) and until now no viable candidate existed. The Searaser system seems to fit the bill however, and while filling the sea with cybernetic coral reefs on life support isn't an ideal solution to the problem, we need any solution we can get at this point.

>>4061148

>That's because there isn't all that much to experiment with underwater. You can test engineering, or you can poke around looking for new kinds of squid. "Experiments" don't really make sense, a bit like how they tried to justify the ISS as some sort of place to do science without ever figuring out what they would do.

Look at the photo. It's from an experiment in biorock accretion. Basically it was discovered by fluke that if you electrify a metal structure it causes a battery like reaction with surrounding water and minerals from the water accrete onto the surface of the metal in the exact same manner and composition of coral. What this means is, you can build a coral 'skeleton' from aluminum, 'seed' it with coral bits and plants, then electrify it and over a few years grow a new coral reef.

The sea is not space. It's full of stuff. Minerals, organic compounds, etc. and there's a lot of cool shit you can do with that. Like rocket powered supercavitating subs that use seawater as half of the reaction in order to prolong the burn time. Really, really cool shit.

>>3914331

>.....you really can't see how dumping giant containers into the ocean, running electricity through them

This is actually how we restore coral reefs. Electrified metal structures in the oceanic environment accelerate the growth of coral on them by 5 times. Pic related.

>pollution out of them

Such as....?

>a constant supple of clean water

From the surrounding ocean. The same process that makes your air (electrolysis) can also make clean drinking water (recombining some of the hydrogen and oxygen to make pure water). This is how submarines do it.

>trying to heat/cool the place

...is no more energy intensive than heating or cooling a typical home. Less so on average as this would take place in equatorial waters that would be very warm during the day.

>>3473493

>>Do you know what scale that is?

Look closely, you can see a little scuba diver right above it. It's very big.

>Will I need a freshwater tank

Yes, there are compact desalination devices but they are expensive.

>>3473500

Most projects like that allow corals to grow naturally on metal, which they are chemically inclined to do. But electrifying that metal even with very low voltage accelerates the coral growth by about 5 times.