The Navy's Sealab program

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948268]

Back in the 1960s-1980s there were hundreds of undersea habitats worldwide. Our three Sealab habitats were among the most advanced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBDs6yTkgM

They ranged from 200 to 600 feet deep, and the later two were guarded and supplied by a team of trained dolphins. It was secretly a test to see whether we could acclimate Navy Seals to those pressures so that we could retrieve Soviet warheads from downed submarines. According to declassified documents, this was successfully done at least once, which is part of why we still have an operational undersea lab today.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948271]

This picture is from Sealab I. Hydrolab was the first, but it was a one man outpost. Sealab I was the first serious multi-inhabitant military base underwater.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948272]

An exterior shot of Sealab I. It remained underwater for only 11 days before it was removed because of an oncoming hurricane.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948275]

Here's a picture of Sealab III being sunk. The largest and most sophisticated of the three, and also the deepest.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948279]

We've come a long way since then.

[Anonymous No.1948280]

where is my underwater objectivist dystopia?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948281]

Aquarius is largest, more technologically advanced and greatly more comfortable for the scientists on board. Compact aircon and dehumidifiers are the biggest improvement, as well as the computers necessary for the automated support buoy, a big improvement over the support barges or ocean platforms formerly used to support undersea bases.

[Anonymous No.1948282]

Man, we should get into making more of these.

It would also be excellent learning-by-doing in terms of establishing moonbases n'such

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948286]

>>1948280

>>where is my underwater objectivist dystopia?

Here. I built it. But naturally, on a smaller scale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05pkg0DuPNQ

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948293]

>>1948282

>>Man, we should get into making more of these.

We are. There's a successor to Aquarius in the design phase now.

>>It would also be excellent learning-by-doing in terms of establishing moonbases n'such

This is the main rationale for it. Aquarius II will be comprised of separate modules, designed to give visiting astronauts practice in assembling modular colonies on Mars.

There are also private sea bases under construction, like the one pictured.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948296]

>>1948282

>>Man, we should get into making more of these.

We are. There's a successor to Aquarius in the design phase now.

>>It would also be excellent learning-by-doing in terms of establishing moonbases n'such

This is the main rationale for it. Aquarius II will be comprised of separate modules, designed to give visiting astronauts practice in assembling modular colonies on Mars.

There are also private sea bases under construction, like the one pictured.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948301]

For reference, this is what we had in orbit at the time.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948308]

We've come so far since then. Restaurants, hotels and resorts under the sea, for the rich of course. But we've waded only a short ways into the daylight zone. Sealab III is still the deepest that man has lived for any real length of time.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948315]

Going perhaps twenty or thirty feet underwater has become so safe as to be a novelty for tourists. It wasn't always the case.

[Anonymous No.1948318]

Attention, this may be related to your interests.

http://hampture.blogspot.com/

This man has successfully designed, built and tested an undersea habitat. For hamsters. He is currently working on a multi-enclosure structure.

tl;dr Some guy put some hamsters in a box underwater and they lived.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948321]

The advances to material tech, mainly high strength plastics, has made it possible to explore the sea at great depths as casually and elegantly as the natives.

The transparent acrylic sub in this shot is more than three thousand feet deep.

[Anonymous No.1948323]

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948324]

>>1948318

>>tl;dr Some guy put some hamsters in a box underwater and they lived.

Yeah, that guy was me. Sup. I'm mainly working on this now: http://projectearthrover.blogspot.com/

[Anonymous No.1948331]

Lovely. Shame the economy will be a burning wreckage in a few years, making this impossible to acheive on a large scale.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948335]

The same company responsible for supplying the materials for almost all of the undersea labs I mentioned has now set it's sights on tourist profits with the construction of the Poseidon Undersea Resort.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948341]

Again, vacuum molded acrylic with nanoengineered treatment to prevent corrosion or coral/barnacle growth saves the day. A subsea structure this vast would have been unthinkable for the govetnment in the 60s, much less a corporation. But here we are in 2010, and it's being built for rich tourists.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948347]

Ever been to an aquarium with a transparent acrylic tunnel going through a large tank? Same company that's building this.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948348]

Here's a render of the saucer shaped general use pods at either end. Both these larger pods and the smaller pods will be mass produced, sold to other resorts interested in more modest undersea villas.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948349]

Here's one such pod, repurposed as a submerged home for the very wealthy.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948353]

Designed as permanent seafloor structures situated in water that's perhaps 30 feet deep, the expectation is that one day this or something like it will become an affordable option for those whose homes have been swallowed up by the rising waterline.

[Anonymous No.1948359]

>>1948349
What about affordable housing underwater Op, how far away is that? We aren't all wealthy as fuck, sadly.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948361]

As it's connected to the surface by an elevator and stairway it needs only grid power to circulate fresh air, like any other home. It's one atmosphere of pressure throughout as there is no moon pool, so decompression is not an issue.

[Anonymous No.1948363]

>>1948321
Well if we really wanted to explore the deep sea, we'd set up a network of automatic AUV(autonomous underwater vehicle) recharging and data collection stations and deploy AUVs all over the sea.

Also what are the advantages of stationary seabases over highly mobile AUVs?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948366]

>>1948359

>>What about affordable housing underwater Op, how far away is that? We aren't all wealthy as fuck, sadly.

It's a goal of mine to build a modest undersea home on the cheap, using a repurposed water storage tank.

As a proof of concept, you see, that I can show to investors. Pictured is the sort of interior space you could expect, with the bathroom and kitchen just behind the cameraman.

[Anonymous No.1948373]

>>1948363
OP is just a lonely virgin who wishes to get on the sea more so a sailor will raep him in the briny deep.
(I am just kidding Op I think you're really badass Hampture makes me feel proud of humanity)

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948379]

>>1948363

>>Also what are the advantages of stationary seabases over highly mobile AUVs?

Saturation diving. Because of the gas mixtures used and the fact that there's no decompression required, human divers can stay out for up to 8 hours at a time on two tanks. Compare that to 30 minutes at the bottom, typical for surface dives, as the rest of the time is spend descending and slowly ascending.

The greatest discoveries in history were made because we had human beings living someplace fulltime, and while gathering samples, one of them happened to notice something unusual out of the corner of their eye, so they investigated.

Robots are efficient, but think of humans as incredible sophisticated, capable robots that simply need more support equipment. Sustaining them deep underwater is, as I've shown, not as much of a barrier as it used to be.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948383]

>>1948373

>>(I am just kidding Op I think you're really badass Hampture makes me feel proud of humanity)

Haha, it's just a hobby project. Feel proud when I build something like this:

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948389]

This guy right here will undoubtedly be the first to colonize the sea. For the past decade he's raised money, bought two support vessels, a submarine/habitat hybrid and a prototype habitat (pictured) in pursuit of his "Atlantica Expeditions".

Currently he's constructing the New Worlds Explorer and the Leviathan, two of the first modular capsules that will become the foundation for an undersea colony open to anyone willing to live and work permanently in the sea.

http://www.underseacolony.com/

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948394]

Personal submarines are also gradually approaching affordability. A one man minisub can be had for around $72,000.

[Anonymous No.1948398]

>>1948394
those jet fighter subs are cool.

[Inurdaes !O1lReNv8uc No.1948397]

>>1948394
Why ARE minisubs so expensive?
Not enough demand/production?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948400]

The cheapest minisub out there is more of a sea scooter, which surrounds your head with fresh air but leaves your body submerged. It's electric like any other minisub and carries it's own tank of air, all for $7,500.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948402]

>>1948398

>>those jet fighter subs are cool.

No kidding. Check out this police minisub (on the right) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocoN4XSq0YY

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948410]

>>1948397

>>Why ARE minisubs so expensive? Not enough demand/production?

Yeah, nowhere to go underwater just yet. That seems to be changing though.

There's really not much to making a minisub. Plenty of individual tinkerers have done so and posted them on youtube. There's even an annual homemade minisub race. Pic related.

The push for electric cars will actually greatly help to reduce minisub costs, as the bulk of the price is the batteries.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948414]

Undersea tourist spots are actually surprisingly numerous. When I went looking I didn't know how many to expect, but they're a staple of tropical resorts. This spa for instance is in the Maldives.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948418]

There's this visitor's center in the Red Sea, which is also home to this undersea restaurant: >>1948315

[Anonymous No.1948421]

>>1948379
So even with a hardsuit the maximum depth a human diver can attain is ~3000 feet.

With an AUV, the maximum attainable depth is the bottom of the ocean, anywhere in the ocean.

AUVs can stay out for half a year without needing a recharge. This one design might even allow them to use the ocean's thermal gradient to recharge, basically allowing them to operate forever, for the most part.

Teleoperated underwater robot bases could also allow for the "notice something out of the corner of eye" aspect. Heck if we could put something as simple as a webcam at a hydrothermal vent, we'd learn quite a bit.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948428]

Anyway, seems like the thread's sinking (lolol) so I'll wrap it up.

The fact that the international space station is bigger ten times over than our nation's only undersea science outpost is sickening.

I support space exploration. But realistically we get more bang for our buck exploring the sea. Sink a habitat off the great barrier reef and I can guarantee new species will be discovered every week, whereas we're still waiting on the discovery of even a single extraterrestrial microbe after hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into the space program.

We need a colony on the moon and mars for the simple reason that we will likely be wiped out by an asteroid one of these centuries. It's happened with some regularity in the past and it's bound to happen again.

However an ocean floor colony could withstand nuclear war, plagues, runaway warming and just about any other catastrophe short of planetary annihilation. It offers access to methane hydrates, to deep sea manganese nodules and other deposits of rare earth minerals crucial for the production of cleaner fuels, electric cars, wind turbines and solar panels.

Why does that matter? Because China, the world's source for rare earth minerals, has just cut off our supply: http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/10/19/is_it_a_clean_energy_trade_war_yet_china_cuts_
off_rare_earth_shipments_to_the_us

and while environmentalists worry about the pollution, plans for deep sea mining of rare earth minerals so as to circumvent the Chinese monopoly have already begun: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/deepsea-mining-adds-to-fears-of-marine-pollution-201
6292.html

The resources we need to build a better tomorrow and to meet our growing need for biomass and electricity can be found in the sea. One day we will send refinery ships to the asteroids, and mine the sky. But until then, we will send men into the deep, and mine the sea floor.

[Anonymous No.1948432]

how do i archive this thread?

[Anonymous No.1948436]

>>1948432

4chan archive dot org.

Can't post the URL for some reason, against the rules?

[Anonymous No.1948443]

>>1948428
>>hydrates and nodules
Except that most deepsea mining operations operate from the surface and at depths below that attainable with SCUBA(hard suit required).
>>runaway warming
what about ocean acidification?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948452]

>>1948443

>>Except that most deepsea mining operations operate from the surface and at depths below that attainable with SCUBA(hard suit required).

Yes, hardsuits will be required. We don't have robots capable of doing most of the steps involved in deep sea mining just yet.

It'll be pretty dangerous work. China's also getting in on the act: http://bluelivingideas.com/topics/marine-ocean-sea-life/china-plans-deep-sea-mining-copper-nickel-co
balt-silver-gold-international-waters/

I expect their safety regulations won't be terribly strict. But then, we'll never hear about the men they lose.

[Anonymous No.1948476]

>>1948452
>>We don't have robots capable of doing most of the steps involved in deep sea mining just yet.
Only problem is that robots have already been used for deep sea mining.

In fact, I don't believe humans have ever been sent down to do the mining.

PIC related it's an underwater mining robot.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948527]

>>1948476

>>Only problem is that robots have already been used for deep sea mining.

Right, I know that. But as I said they can do a crude, imprecise and specialized sort of mining. They are usable now because the seafloor is replete with easily accessible exposed mineral veins/nodules. That won't always be the case and for some types of mining, we will need human beings.

Like I said, human beings are the most sophisticated robot you could ask for.

[marinegeologyfag No.1948596]

>>1948363
Canada already has a cabled observatory on the Juan de Fuca plate: http://neptunecanada.ca One of my subseafloor observatories is hooked up to it so I can get data in real time. the idea is to have plug in stations for ROVs and AUVs so they can go out and do work.

>>1948421
bullshit. if you're doing ANY kind of hi resolution mapping or photo collection, there is no fucking way an AUV can run for 6 months...it'll run out of data storage and battery WAY before then. the way we run AUV cruises now is to deploy them for a few days while we do other stuff, then collect the AUV, check out the hi-res maps and decide where to go next...especially helpful in mapping recent eruptions at the mid-ocean ridge. HOWEVER, AUVs are not reliable enough yet to just let them go for as long as you suggest. we're just not there yet.

as to why we need HOVs (human occupied vehicles)...there is no replacement for the human experience of doing science in the deep sea. you need to have a human brain down there for interpretation and quick changes to your dive plan. i work at 2400-2700m below the surface and it's a hell of a lot different being in the Alvin (I get more out of looking out the porthole) than using the JASON ROV (where I'm just seeing through a camera).

[marinegeologyfag No.1948616]

>>1948321
also, sadly, the Johnson Sealink in this post is no longer owned by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Inst. they couldn't afford to operate it anymore, so they auctioned off the sub and its support ship. no clue who bought it. it's a shame...my friends who dived in it said it was amazing...

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948627]

>>1948596

These are basically the same conclusions I came to. Additionally while I desperately want to see larger sea colonies built, and they may be, it won't be for science. I can think of no research project that necessitates the physical presence of more than six aquanauts, which is likely why every habitat from Sealab I all the way up to Aquarius has had room for six.

The future of undersea exploration is most likely robots teleoperated from modest undersea labs. The robots do most of the surveying and sample collection, while humans experiment on what they bring back and physically go out to investigate anything interesting the robots spotted while out and about that they're not equipped to deal with.

[Anonymous No.1948645]

>>1948596
There's little need for reliability when you can make them cheap. Just look at weather balloons, they're so cheap we throw them away.
>>data storage
You don't need as much data storage when you have satellite datalink.
>>batteries
hence the recharging system network. Also there is the possibility of using the ocean's thermal gradient to recharge.

[Anonymous No.1948647]

>>1948627
why would one do teleoperation from undersea labs, when you can teleoperate robots from anywhere?

[Anonymous No.1948650]

>guarded and supplied by a team of trained dolphins

[Anonymous No.1948655]

>>1948647

>why would one do teleoperation from undersea labs, when you can teleoperate robots from anywhere?

Proximity. Radio waves don't make it very far in water. It's why they use tethers for current ROVs operated from ships on the surface.

[Anonymous No.1948669]

>>1948655
Then why not hook the robot up to a fiberoptic cable connected to a datalink at the surface? Also how's you're underwater base going to stay in touch with the outside world? Will it have internet?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1948683]

>>1948669

>>Then why not hook the robot up to a fiberoptic cable connected to a datalink at the surface?

You're still dragging around a tether, but now you're using solar/battery power.

>>Also how's you're underwater base going to stay in touch with the outside world? Will it have internet?

Sure, via a tethered buoy it can send up for transmission.


If you were to build a few thousands wireless repeaters, each a self contained ad-hoc node powered by a zinc fuel cell or some other long lived energy source, you could simply lower a FiOS tether from a ship with a transceiver on the end of it. It'd establish a connection with the nearest node and your ROV would now be able to roam, tether-free, within the wireless coverage of the node network.

However, at the end of the day you still have to recover the ROV, haul up the tether and go ashore. Operating from the surface actually works out to be costlier in the long term than having an undersea habitat, which is why we still operate one for reef study.

[Anonymous No.1948699]

lol like sealab2020 but i honestly think sealabs are fucking stupid

[Anonymous No.1948999]

?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.1949007]

>>1948999

How would you construct it? On land? At sea?

[marinegeologyfag No.1949791]

>>1948645
you do realize that AUVs are NOT CHEAP AT ALL to build/operate, right?? Look at ABE, Sentry, Jaguar (the most trusted/well documented systems out there right now). We're talking millions of dollars to build and maintain these things. the # of technical folks you need to maintain an AUV is phenomenal.

also....unless you're implying that satellites can 'see' through water (which they can't), your AUV has to surface every time it wants to upload. and the satellite would have to be in range. current battery technology is not good enough yet to allow this on a repeated basis!!!! that AUV that could use the thermal gradient to recharge is IN DEVELOPMENT. NOT REAL YET. most of the places we need to map are so distant from land...we can't just chuck an AUV into the water at a beach in Mexico and tell it to go to the center of the South Pacific Gyre. it'd die WAY before it got there.

[Anonymous No.1951166]

Fucking interesting. I support this. Don't support the talk down of space exploration though.

[Anonymous No.1951277]

My face when he sings good night irene.

[Anonymous No.1951281]

>>1951277
On the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBDs6yTkgM