Neemo 15 undersea/space analog mission begins today!

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930797]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NEEMO/index.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21053-rover-scientist-why-im-spending-13-days-underwater.html

A team of NASA astronauts will be living 50 feet underwater aboard Aquarius, pride of the NOAA and America's only dedicated undersea research station (discounting the comparably spartan and disused MarineLab in Key Largo Undersea Park).

This is the most ambitious NEEMO mission yet; while past missions employed replica lunar/mars landers and rovers situated on the sea floor near the Aquarius habitat, this mission will make use of an enormous artificial asteroid sunk nearby. Astronauts turned aquanauts will wear special neutral buoyancy suits to replicate zero gravity conditions and practice scaling the asteroid, hammering in nets of guide rope, taking measurements of the simulated asteroid landscape and interacting with the simulated Asteroid Exploration Vehicle (represented on this mission by the DeepWorker 2000, among the most sophisticated and technically impressive compact submersibles in existence today).

On a related note, I recently received notice that I have been selected by Dr. Robert Zubrin to participate in a similar simulated space mission called MDRS. It is organized by the Mars Society and will take place in the Utah desert within a 1:1 mockup of a hypothetical Mars habitat with adjacent greenhouse. Presumably the idea was that an aquanaut's participation in a simulated space mission would be constructive and revelatory for the same reason that astronaut operations aboard the Aquarius undersea lab are. I look forward to being a productive and useful member of the MDRS team, and I will carry /sci/ with me in my heart as I serve to the best of my abilities as an ambassador from the blue frontier to the red one.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930810]

Here's a comparison between the asteroid exploration vehicle, and the Deepworker 2000.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930819]

Here's a better view of two Deep Worker subs, created by the inventor of the Newt Suit, Phil Nuytten, one of the foremost undersea pioneers.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930827]

Here's a shot of a past Neemo mission involving a mockup Altair lander and pressurized rover. They really go all out. Every mission weights the suits to produce exactly the right gravitational pull for whatever environment they are simulating, be it the moon, mars, or zero G.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930837]

Up top: A past design for the asteroid exploration vehicle, examining an asteroid's surface.

On bottom: A Deep Rover submersible examining a cliffside. The Deep Rover was designed in the 1980s and remains among the most popular for research since due to the spherical transparent acrylic cockpit.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930857]

The Ustream channel is live now:

http://www.ustream.tv/aquariusreefbase

Here are the individual webcams inside and outside the base:

http://aquarius.uncw.edu/live/

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930871]

Commencing photo dump

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930887]

Here's the poster for the prior Neemo mission in case anyone wants it

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930893]

OC!

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930895]

[Anonymous No.3930899]

>>3930887
I like the sea, but I just couldn't live anywhere where I can't reasonably bring my darling monitor lizard.

The choices:
1.) Live in 1ATM habitat where he'll be comfortable.
2.) Try to engineer myself a mosasaur, which is related to my darling.

I think the choice is obvious.

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3930931]

>>3930893

A Gamma Ray Burst aimed at Earth from anywhere in the milky way galaxy would blast Earth out of orbit and probably melt it into slag as well.

Ocean won't save you.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930932]

>>3930931

Not really though.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930936]

>>3930932

I think.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930943]

>>3930893

I love this. However if the asteroid impacted the ocean, the shockwave would be even more destructive in water than on land. If it hit the abyssal plain and you're on the conshelf or vice versa, it would mitigate the effects somewhat, but ultimately it only really helps protect you if the asteroid strikes land.

Also to be fair, for the "reality" shot of undersea living, you should use something like this pic instead of more CGI.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930954]

More pics you can add to the "reality" section of undersea living...

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3930959]

>>3930932

Gamma Ray Bursts are the single highest energy events in the universe.
For one to occur within about 200 million light years aimed directly at us, when the energy reaches us, the planet at large would not stand a chance.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930968]

>>3930959

I think melting it to slag is exaggerating though. The planet is pretty fucking heavy. Also water has a very high thermal inertia, and the oceans are very deep. I think a gamma ray burst would boil off the topmost kilometer or so of the ocean, maybe much less.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930971]

more

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3930981]

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930985]

>>3930981

Is that a lego undersea pod? Awwww

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3930987]

>>3930968

The event wouldn't just be one flash-heat then gone.

Depending on how far it was (less than ~10 million lightyears), the ejecta won't be long (decade or three) behind the severe radiation.

That bombards the planet, Earth is getting knocked out of the solar system.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3930992]

>>3930987

>That bombards the planet, Earth is getting knocked out of the solar system.

You're kidding, right?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3931008]

>Hanging upside down in blue void, clinging to fake asteroid
>Weightless
>Ocean floor above you
>Shimmering ocean surface below you

Allofmyfeel.jpg

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3931016]

>>3930992

Yes, because near-lightspeed angularly-spun hypernova debris is something to scoff when your planet is only about 6 quintillion kilograms and you're being hit with about a quarter of a supergiant star.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3931047]

>>3931016

It's a bunch of high energy protons. They hardly have any momentum. Enough to power a few civilizations, but by the time it gets here, the beam will have a very low density and very little will hit the Earth, with most of it being decelerated by the magnetic field: The actual gamma rays don't diverge easily, but equally-charged particles in a tight beam have a lot of repulsion.

The protons will hit the interstellar medium and raise the temperature of the immediate volumes, but they can't knock a planet of its orbit, any more than solar wind against the magnetosphere acts as a magnetic sail.

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3931077]

>>3931047

I can't really argue against these mechanics, but I can say that we're not certain if that's how GRBs even operate.

The ones we've detected have just been echoes across the universe, with all the models we have just being trying to figure out how such a high energy event can occur. We have no idea of their accuracy.

[Colonel Coffee Mug !phJ7yIcs.Q No.3931098]

>>3931077

But we can clearly see two relativistic jets moving away from a star. That argument could be made for other phenomena that can only be inferred.

[Anonymous No.3931118]

This is so SO cool.

>On a related note, I recently received notice that I have been selected by Dr. Robert Zubrin to participate in a similar simulated space mission called MDRS. It is organized by the Mars Society and will take place in the Utah desert within a 1:1 mockup of a hypothetical Mars habitat with adjacent greenhouse.

You are my hero. Seriously. You're the fucking man. I wish I could do this kind of stuff.

[White Ren !YLuFFdRcFQ No.3931146]

>>3931098

There are also singular relativistic jets such as the one spewing out of M81.

There's potential for multiple causes and multiple effects.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3931165]

>>3931118

>You are my hero. Seriously. You're the fucking man. I wish I could do this kind of stuff.

Please don't. I feel torn enough. Everyone else on the crew is some kind of scientist with a jillion Phds. I'm coming along because Zubrin wants an undersea settler's perspective on Mars colonization, and my experience with battery electric propulsion applies to the 24vx12 sealed AGM battery pack the habitat uses as backup (and my experience with surface supplied diving equipment applies to the simsuits, which use a 12v battery and air pump in the backpack to circulate air through the helmet.)

I feel entirely unqualified compared to everyone else but feel determined to compensate for this by being as useful to them as possible.

I am also privately hoping to talk Zubrin into allowing me to design battery electric rovers using golf cart parts to replace the gas powered ATVs as internal combustion engines don't work in the Martian atmosphere, so they break the suspension of disbelief and harm the accuracy of the simulation. We'll see where that goes.

[Anonymous No.3931260]

>>3930893
A GRB wouldn't actually reach the surface, it would fuck with the atmosphere, which would lead to mass extinctions and what not but the ocean is by no means same from that. its a food chain and if nothing can live at the top nothing can eat further down and a significant reduction in oxygen.

if you're talking about just surviving someone on the surface would have little trouble as long as they took adequate protection afterwards. an immediate lethal dose is unlikely.

all of this is for a very close star.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3931894]

>>3931260

...How did this become a discussion of gamma ray bursts?

[Anonymous No.3931973]

>>3931165
>Everyone else on the crew is some kind of scientist with a jillion Phds
Being in a phd program, I can tell you that there's no reason to be intimidated by people with phd's. You don't have to be super smart to get a phd, just obsessive enough about a specific enough discipline or idea to devote a few years of your life to it.

Most of the people in my department are regular joe shmo's. One guy hangs out at pool halls, drinking, smoking and hustling people almost every night.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932035]

>>3931973

>Being in a phd program, I can tell you that there's no reason to be intimidated by people with phd's. You don't have to be super smart to get a phd, just obsessive enough about a specific enough discipline or idea to devote a few years of your life to it.

I still have tremendous respect for them and feel inadequate by comparison. These are people whose pursuits directly benefit the human endeavor. I feel honored to be on the same crew, and I'm intent on facilitating their experiments in any way they might find useful.

[Anonymous No.3932094]

>>3931118
>live in air tight container in desert
>eat similar stuff they eat in space, exercise the amount they are recommended to in space
>wear some kind of container of oxygen when you are outside it
>wear something the same weight as a spacesuit when outside it

there you go

[Anonymous No.3932118]

From the few minutes I spent watching the livestream, it seems that life underwater will be kind of like a late nineties kid's show? Also, the porthole looks kind of like a washing machine built into the wall. Anyway, I'll try to read into this more in the morning. I've been interested int his stuff for a while.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932135]

>>3932118

Here's a wealth of videos on the subject I've collected into a single synchtube channel:

http://www.synchtube.com/r/madscientist

[Anonymous No.3932396]

on a related note, any gossip on the new Alvin construction?

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=51855

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932901]

>>3932396

>on a related note, any gossip on the new Alvin construction?

IIRC the new pressure sphere is 7 feet across instead of 5 feet, and made from titanium instead of steel. It increases the crush depth enough that Alvin will be able to visit every part of the abyssal plain, although not so much that it will be able to descend into trenches.

[Anonymous No.3932913]

>>3932901
That sounds great.

Visiting trenches is for purpose-built bathyspheres anyway. Alvin was always about the mobility and the flexibility to be adapted to different research missions. Any idea what's going to happen to the old Alvin?

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932923]

>>3932913

The new Alvin *is* the old Alvin. Over many decades just about every part has been replaced. It's the "Ship of Theseus" philosophical problem, in submersible form. Is it still the same sub? Yes and no, but there's only one like it.

[Anonymous No.3932938]

Mad Scientist's threads are the only reason to come to /sci/ anymore.

OC

[Inurdaes !V1sPhobos. No.3932941]

>>3932938

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932945]

>>3932938

Gosh.

[Anonymous No.3932952]

>>3932923
I never realized that they were just adding a new pressure sphere! I really thought they were building a 100% new submersible. I'm actually kinda glad that the old/new Alvin is still around. To think that each rivet and component has been replaced at one time, yet we still consider it as the same physical object is really neat, It's more like an organic life form that way.

[Mad Scientist !!Q11PG81nz2n No.3932957]

>>3932952

There's so little investment in ocean science they can't afford all new subs much of the time. That's changing, but most of the new money is in private access to the deep sea, like Virgin Oceanic, Kona Blue open ocean fish farming, Nautilus Minerals, Neptune Minerals, and Flexblue subsea nuclear power. The pure science will probably (and unfortunately) remain under-funded even as private industry is expanding into and developing the resource and energy potential of our global ocean.

[Anonymous No.3933336]

>>3930797
>Selected for MDRS in Utah.

Congrats! You should contact David Levine in Portland. He also went on the Utah trip and can tell you all about the experience. One of his mates was Diego Rivera, who was later selected for the full 500 day Mars mission isolation simulation currently running in Russia. Will you be bringing your algae air processing experiment?

>>3932938
Thirded like the fist of the north star!

[Anonymous No.3933479]

>>3932945
Just stating a fact. My hat is off to you.

[Anonymous No.3933645]

>>3930971

I didn't know they were doing a sequel to Beetlejuice.

[Homeschool Aspie No.3934156]

>>3932957
Hey MadSci.
How deep are these guys?

And has anyone conisdered using the supercooled water of the depth for cooling purposes?