/sci/ - Science & Math

"Of the 70 undersea labs that have existed worldwide between 1962 and 1980, all but a few made the study of human social interaction and psychological health in confined spaces a major component of their research agenda. Perhaps the most famous was Tektite, an unusually large station built by General Electric and deployed in the Virgin Islands first in 1969 and then again in 1970. The name refers to a type of meteor fragment that lands in the ocean, an appropriate name for a program intended to use a relatively confined underwater living space to study crew dynamics over a two month period in preparation for extended space missions.

Accordingly, crew mixtures were varied and often chosen primarily to satisfy scientific curiosity about the long duration viability of different kinds of pairings, including the historic first all woman undersea team dismissively labelled the "aqua belles" by the media of the day. Questionnaires plying into each crew member's feelings about various exercises, meals and events as well as what they thought of their comrades were compulsory although in some cases morale broke down to the extent that these questionnaires were ignored entirely and two crews even became overtly hostile to topside support."

Later interpretation of their behaviors led the psychologists involved to conclude that they felt that they lived in what was essentially a different world, that the stresses and dangers they faced on a day to day basis were so alien to ordinary surface experience that they felt topside support could not understand their situation and was not in a position to issue them orders or advice. Topside support, in their view, lacked the direct experience with how day to day life underwater worked and therefore couldn't come to informed conclusions as to what changes if any were needed.

Reportedly the pace of life slowed, they became intimately well adapted to their environment and began to think of themselves as legitimate inhabitants of the sea. It felt as if they belonged there, a closely knit social bond formed and everyone from the surface whether issuing orders or bringing supplies became an unwelcome outsider in their eyes. This could be compared, speculatively, to the tendency for colonies to rebel against their founding nations and seek sovreignty. The increased complexity and stress of life underwater or on Mars with a pseudo-familial group in confined quarters may well accelerate this process, and magnify the effect.

>>4571159
>But it would be fun being able to swim around, maintain the equipment and mess with the fish.

As reported in Ian Koblick's book "living and working in the sea", beyond the one month mark consistent psychological changes appear. The crew becomes tightly knit and insular, stops obeying or even answering topside, and begins to regard themselves as belonging in and natural inhabitants of the sea. The increased air pressure has a pleasant intoxicating effect which may contribute to this. The Tektite crew famously fell victim to this effect, eventually declining to answer any calls from topside and regarding visiting divers with hostility.

In fact from what I've been reading in those threads it looks like many thousands of people lived in the ocean over about three decades, in 70 undersea labs. Many times more than have ever lived in space, and that's far more sealabs than the space stations that have existed.

Yet for some reason you seem to be arguing that it's easier to live in space than the ocean.