/sci/ - Science & Math

>>3215528

>>What amount of capital is needed, do you know? How big investors they are looking for?

The prototype habitat is paid for and around 50% completed (It's comprised of two identical modules docked end to end, and one module is now 85% done) We need two things:

#1. 3~ million more for the construction of Challenger Station
#2. A manufacturer interested in mass producing the simpler, cheaper ambient pressure habitats of the type we'll be using in the 2012 demonstration. We intend to sell these as luxury products for those interested in owning their own trailerable undersea habitat, deployable via ordinary boat ramps.

These will be sort of an insurance policy against the failure of the permanent colony; If we can't raise the money for that, at least getting these affordable hobby habitats into enough peoples' hands would make it possible for enthusiasts to form undersea communities in shallow coastal waters simply by stationing their habitat near enough to a bunch of friends' to swim between them.

Pic; The book you should read to find out more about the project. Book sales also go towards funding.

>>2298213

>>Specialists deep sea habitats or shallow water recreational habitats, ok, but in every other scenario, why not a boat?

Not as cool. 100% series. For me, living underwater is desirable regardless of reason. The task now is to find reasons.

>>There's lots of ocean. Spare isn't an issue. Why isolate people from that crucial requirement, air?

Because the technologies necessary for safely and reliably supplying habitats with air have come down in price sufficiently that you can run down to a target or Home Depot and buy most of what you'd need and have it put together in a weekend. A triply redundant air compressor, aircon and dehumidification system can be assembled from affordable off the shelf products these days. Not so in the 1960s.

>>They had hard shell undersea habitats 30 years ago. There's a reason they're still only limited to specialist engineering projects and the occasional scientific foray.

Yes, there are reasons why they failed. But those obstacles have been overcome since. I recommend you read this book; It's an extended examination of why the "man in the sea" programs were abandoned and how, with modern materials and technologies, those obstacles have been overcome.