Aquarius Undersea Laboratory

Ask an Aquanaut: Mission Complete?

Craig Cooper — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:54:31 +0000

Tomlin Middle School asks: With mission 1 over and Mission 2 , two days away from ’splash up”, have you (both mission crews) accomplished everything you have printed for your goals on the mission summary page? What is the Kamper Waystation, it’s purpose and why are you replacing this to a new site 400′ from Aquarius?

Besh wishes to the crew in the Habitat and to the topside support team. We will follow your next mission in May. Thanks TMS

Dear TMS

Thanks for following along on these missions with the Navy SRDD divers. We can gladly report that we are very pleased with the results of both five day missions and the work completed by the 8 Navy divers and our 2 hab techs, James and Justin. We accomplished our goals of further demonstrating the use of the MK 16 rebreathers throughout the heavy construction projects, their resupply of consumables to operate during the missions, even their changeout when one “rig” had to be swapped with a backup and the faulty unit brought back to the surface. All of the major construction projects involving drilling and grouting (cementing) pins and bolts for the two waystations, as well as the bracket installations to expand the air flask farm on the seafloor, were completed, and gave the divers the opportunity to work their rebreathers hard so that they can gain experience in its limits. Our hab techs also completed many maintenance projects, and helped the SRDD divers at times on their dives when possible.

The Kamper Waystation is one of our underwater scuba fill stations with communication back to the habitat. Divers can work in the deeper reef areas and return there to refill their tanks every two hours, without having to traverse the additional 400′ back to Aquarius, allowing them more time on the reef to do their work. It is located in 85 feet of water and is an open bottom diving bell with a large acrylic dome, again connected to Aquarius with its own 400′ umbilical carrying high pressure air and communications. “Kamper” was proudly named after our friend and former Supervisor of Navy Diving, Capt. Mark Helmkamp. It is currently on the dock being refurbished before being deployed for an upcoming mission, SRDD divers do not require underwater fill stations with their rebreathers. If you search mission pictures from previous years’ missions you should find a picture of “Kamper” or its sister station “Koblick”.

Installation of the new underwater fill station at the Southeast Crossroads required that “Kamper” be moved to the north to create some separation between these stations. Both are along the 85 fsw contour, sitting on sand patches, surrounded by spur and groove reef, with easy access to the deeper reefs, or back to the habitat. The station going to the SE Crossroads looks just like the Gazebo outside the habitat that you see on the web cam. It will be bolted to a 3000 lb concrete disc for ballast, “Kamper” has 18 lead bars anchoring its base, each weighing 120 lbs. SRDD divers moved all those weights to the new location 300′ from the SE Crossroads, set up the base, then drilled a boat mooring in the seabed so we could moor directly overhead to deploy “Kamper” for its next mission.

Thanks again for your interest in our program from all of us topside and the aquanauts below. We appreciate all of you there in Plant City, Fl, and thanks to Justin’s fine performance on these two missions, you were well represented.

Craig Cooper
Operations Director

Ask an Aquanaut: Missions

Ellen Prager — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:53:52 +0000

Florence and Emma white asked: How do your misions work?
What is it like to practically live under water?

Dear Florence and Emma

Those are two good, big questions. I’ll try to hit some highlights….

Missions last typically from one to two weeks, plus a week of training beforehand. During the week of training the aquanauts plan out what they will be doing during the mission, including the dive schedule, experiments and other work they want to get done. Our staff is also busy at that time running the training program, making sure the habitat is operating smoothly and everything is in working order. They also use special pots to dive food, personal items, and equipment down for inside the habitat. The mission begins as the aquanauts dive down and enter Aquarius and begin living undersea inside the habitat. They can dive 6 to 9 hours a day down to about 95 feet and accomplish lots of work and science underwater that would be very timely and costly if working from the surface. After a mission, as previously described, they go through 17 hours of decompression in the habitat before returning to the surface.

The best thing about living underwater is the view! Living inside Aquarius the aquanauts get to see the surrounding reef, fish and waters 24 hours a day - you never know what might pass by a viewport or what you might see. Food tends to taste bland living at high-pressure, and without a stove or oven, the aquanauts feast mainly on dehydrated meals that are prepared by adding hot water….just like astronauts. There is also a microwave and sometimes, on special occassions a diver may make a special delivery. The aquanauts sleep in bunks and our habitat technicians and staff keep careful watch of all the life support systems and workings of the habitat and divers.

Thanks for the question.
Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist

Ask an Aquanaut:The Ascent

James Talacek — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:20:12 +0000

Tomlin Middle School asks: Last Friday the class watched in anticipation as one of the aquanauts talked on the phone and monitored the computers as the others waited for the signal that everything was safe and ready for the crew to exit the Habitat. After the ‘high five’ sign we swithed to the gazeboo cam. We watched the topside crew in full gear await the Habitat crew to exit the wet porch. Our classroom question is this: Does the topside crew helping the Habitat crew share the oxygen masks they have on or does the inside Habitat fully dress in gear to get to topside? All we could see was the topside crew then legs coming from the wetporch area and maybe three people at a time swim to the top. Hopefully this Friday’s pictures will be a little clearer than last week.
Do the inside Habitat crew just use hand pumps with oxygen to make it to the surface or are they sharing with the topside crew? How long does it take to surface from the Habitat?

Tomlin Middle School,

Let me start by saying that your class is very observant and obviously has a good understanding of our operations.

The topside crew (safety & ascent divers) use their own air masks. The aquanauts do not dress in full diving gear. We use small “bail out” bottles. We can do this safely because the topside divers are there to escort the aquanauts to the surface. The ascent takes two minutes.

The Habitat crew was excited to hear that your class watched us inside and then switched camera views to see us leaving Aquarius during the last mission. Depending on the sea conditions we may exit on the Gazebo side again, but possibly on the “Aquarius exterior” camera side. Hopefully on Friday the visibility will be good, so if you are watching you can see us again.

James Talacek
Habitat Technician

Ask an Aquanaut: Decompression

James Talacek — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:21:39 +0000

Tomlin Middle School asks: When it says the crew has 17 hours of decompression what do you mean? Is the entire time in the bunks with the masks on or is the Aquarius interior being decompress before they can surface after a mission?

Dear Tomlin Middle School,

That is a great question. During our decompression the pressure inside Aquarius is slowly reduced until it reaches 1 Atmosphere which is 14.7psi (surface pressure). During the first one hour and ten minutes of decompression we lay in our bunks and breath 100% oxygen from masks. We do that for three 20 minute periods, with a five minute air break in between each oxygen period. After that the Aquanauts can move around inside Aquarius, but can not go outside since our hatch is sealed.

After the decompression period is complete we briefly re-pressurize the interior so we can the hatch open and swim up to the surface.
One of the U.S. Navy divers told me this: “the best way to deal with a long decompression period is to use the 3M rule……….Meals, Movies & Mattress”.

Thank you for following our mission.

James Talacek
Habitat Technician

Ask an Aquanaut: Underwater exploration

Ellen Prager — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:53:40 +0000

Matt Pender asks: Hi, I was wondering if there is any way that you would allow a student to come on-site to the station for a couple of days. Secondly, what do you think is the number one reason for the lack of information regarding underwater exploration? Thanks alot, Matt.

Dear Matt

Right now the only way a student could spend time on site would be as part of a science or diving team for a mission. We wish we could do more, but our facilities just are not set up for it. That said, most scientists bring a team of students to work on research and as support staff for each mission and we love having them here.

As for your question regarding underwater exploration and a lack of information. The answer is because as a nation we are not investing very much in undersea exploration, especially manned undersea exploration. Experts estimate that we have only explored about 5 percent of the ocean - that means 95 percent remains unexplored! There is only one operating undersea research station - AQUARIUS - today and we have not invested in advancing technology or building the next generation Aquarius! So, undersea exploration and the oceans in general need to become more of a priority so that we can bring the excitment and wonder of it to people like you!

Thanks for the question.

Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base

Ask an Aquanaut: Aquarius Hull?

Craig Cooper — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:56:21 +0000

Teddy Nuttall asks: What is Aquarius’ mainframe made up of?

Teddy,
Thanks for the question, I’m assuming you’re asking about the hull of Aquarius. Aquarius’ 9 foot diameter pressure hull is made of HY100 steel, a tempered low-carbon alloy steel, commonly used for pressure vessels of all types. The 3/4″ thick flat sheets of steel are rolled and welded together into a cylinder, with dished ends then welded on to complete the “sausage” shape. Aquarius is essentially a double lock recompression chamber like you find in many hospitals today that offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy, with the exception that it is underwater and has a non-pressurized square room (the “wet porch”) added on to the stern so we can enter the habitat without it flooding. The hull is periodically checked for thickness readings with nondestructive testing (ultrasonics) to meet American Bureau of Shipping standards to maintain Aquarius’ class credentials that allow her to operate, now in her eleventh year of continuous operations on bottom.
Thanks again Teddy for the question, I hope that’s the information you were asking for.

Craig B. Cooper
Operations Director

Ask an Aquanaut: Problems?

Ellen Prager — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:05:53 +0000

Sandy Hung asks: Do you have any problems involving the Aquarius and missions?

Dear Sandy

Well, that is a very broad question. We do sometimes run into problems with weather - for example if a hurricane is headed our way and we have aquanauts living in Aquarius we have to cut short their mission, begin decompression and get them to the safety of shore as quickly as we can and begin battening down the hatches and preparing for the storm. Every once in a while we have minor operational problems, such as malfunctioning equipment, but we have spares of most things and our expert staff is exceptionally good at fixing problems as they arise. Truthfully, being very well prepared, monitoring, and having many, many check lists prevents too many problems from occurring - safety is our number one priority.

Sometimes the aquanauts have minor health issues that can disrupt missions, such as catching a cold or getting an ear infection. And sometimes their equipment breaks down or does not work as they expected….

Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base

Ask an Aquanaut: More Money!

Ellen Prager — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:18:09 +0000

Richard remarks: I just wish NOAA had the same funding that NASA has. You could argue that exploring the sea is just as relevant to human progress, or more so, than space. Don’t get me wrong. I love our space program, but wouldn’t it be great if every national marine sanctuary could have a habitat like Aquarius?

Hey Richard

We are with you. We fully support space exploration, but would love to see ocean exploration and science get funding that is more equal in magnitude. I mean really, the ocean nearly covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and we rely on it for food, transportation and trade, humanitarian and military missions - and it is a huge economic driver through the recreation and tourism industries, to say nothing of its role in cultural history or its asthetic value…or its critical role on the planet….okay, you have gotten me started.

I’ll just say, thanks for the note, we appreciate the thought……
Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base
PS People can support Aquarius Reef Base through a tax deductible donation to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington specified for Aquarius!

Ask an Aquanaut: Decompression diving?

Ellen Prager — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:34:14 +0000

Richard asks: Do your divers ever find that they have stayed too deep for too long and have to decompress befor returning to Aquarius? What happens then?

Richard

We very carefully plan and monitor the diving that goes on at Aquarius so that the only decompression that goes on is at the end of a mission before the aquanauts return to the surface. During the mission, the divers stage out of the habitat and their time and depth is reviewed, planned and monitored, and they have to check in every 2 hours. At the end of a mission aquanauts go through 17 hours of decompression inside the habitat before returning to the surface.

Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base

Ask an Aquanaut: Thanks

Ellen Prager — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:28:34 +0000

Tony Lucas writes: I have been an avid watcher of the Aquarius missions for the last four years, and would just like to wish everybody involved with Aquarius a fruitful 2008 research year.

Being disabled and having a strong interest in marine biology, the Aquarius missions are the highlight of the year for me. I have followed the expedition logs closely and have many still imagine screen captures of the various missions.
I wish you all a very safe and knowledge filled 2008 season on Aquarius.

A big THANKS Tony for your enthusiasm and interest in Aquarius. We love to hear from our fans and it really means a lot to all of us to know that people like you enjoy following along on missions - stay tuned!

Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base