Aquarius (laboratory)
The Aquarius is an American underwater habitat and laboratory, which is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and operated by the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. It is located approximately fourteen kilometers southeast off Key Largo in the Atlantic.
Prehistory
In the middle of the 20th century next to the exploration of space the advance was a dream of humanity in the depths of the oceans. After Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh had reached with their submarine Trieste on January 23, 1960 located in the Mariana Trench the deepest point of the ocean, was hoped to be able to build entire underwater settlements to exploit the resources of the deep sea. In the following decades, many underwater habitats were sunk in various parts of the oceans. The Aquarius is the last functioning laboratory that era.
Construction
The Aquarius was built in 1986 by the company Victoria Machine Works in Victoria, Texas. Your shell is made of 1.9 cm thick steel on which a 1 cm thick insulation layer is applied. About four pillars it is connected t heavy base plate with the 116. Each of the four pillars is filled with 25 tons of lead, so that the entire construction has a mass of about 300 tonnes. The height of the pillars can be individually adjusted in a range of about 2 m, which allows leveling of Aquarius depending on seabed texture. Habitat and baseplate were designed so that they can withstand heavy storms.
The interior is divided into three areas. It consists of the main area, entry lock and wet areas in which different pressure ratios can be adjusted. The underside of the wet area to the water is open. In it there is always a higher pressure than the pressure of the water, so that no water can penetrate. As divers can reach the interior without a corresponding lock is necessary. The wet area is 2.5 m long, 3.6 m wide and 2.1 m high. Here are storage space for diving equipment and a hot water shower available, so that the divers can exchange their suits against dry clothes.
From the wet area from an air- tight fitting hatch leading to the entrance gate. The entry lock offers a toilet, a sink, the control panels for the gas and electricity supply, life support systems, a work and storage space for personal belongings of the crew members.
Another airtight hatch connects the entrance gate to the main area. It is divided into a working and a living area and a sleeping area with six 60 cm wide and 1.90 m long berths. Furthermore, there is a dining table with benches, a galley with sink, microwave oven and storage space for food, communication and video equipment, medical equipment and life support systems.
In event of an emergency both Main and entry lock with power from batteries and breathing air can be supplied from emergency tanks. Also equipment for disposal of the resulting CO2 is available, if the connection should be torn down to the LSB.
Outside of Aquarius is near the output for an emergency a diving bell is available, which contains about 1.7 m3 of air and six people allowed a comfortable standing position.
Lebenserhaltungsboje
The Lebenserhaltungsboje ( Life Support Buoy, LSB) consists of a platform with ten meters in diameter, which is fixed on the Aquarius on the sea surface. For fixing the LSB is anchored at five points on nylon ropes of about five centimeters in thickness Vertäuungsplatten on the seabed. The Vertäuungsplatten themselves are secured with 1.2 m long anchor bolts in the seabed.
In addition to a tower for communication purposes, the buoy has an interior with a floor area of about seventy square meters. Within the buoy are two diesel generators, each with forty kilowatts, two air compressors with a flow of 510 liters per minute and receiving systems for VHF range and transmitting and receiving systems for the UHF band and the mobile network. The UHF system enables reliable encrypted audio, video and data connections with a bandwidth of up to ten MB per second between the Aquarius and the Mission Control Center on land. Technical improvements are planned (as of 2008), to increase the quality of video and telephony connectivity even further.
Over a 42 -meter long and 8 centimeters thick connecting hose Aquarius is connected to the Lebenserhaltungsboje. Inside the tube there are energy supply cable to the generators, two coaxial and twelve twisted -pair cable to the transmitting and receiving equipment and air supply hoses to the air compressors.
Base of operations on land
The base of operations is located in Key Largo in two buildings. One building houses the administration, housing facilities for visitors and extensive work facilities. In another building there are comfortable sleeping areas for scientists, fully equipped kitchens and two laboratories.
Research Missions
The Aquarius offers scientists the opportunity to explore the life in the ocean over a longer period of time under water. Since its first use more than two hundred scientists have conducted more than ninety organizations more than fifty research missions. By studying the coral reefs they can explore, for example, aspects of pollution.
After the construction of Aquarius 1986, it was first used in 1988 before the U.S. Virgin Islands. After thirteen missions and Hurricane Hugo was in Wilmington, North Carolina undergone a major overhaul in 1992 and moved to its present location. It was lifted again after another twenty missions because of financing difficulties in 1996. After the guarantee of further funding was in 1997 at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution overhauled again and again returned to its old location off Key Largo in 1998.
Mission Overview 2001-2008
Future prospects
Also in the future should the Aquarius continue to be used and further developed. NOAA plans to make the lab more autonomous. For this purpose, should, for example, breathing air tanks are installed to provide an entire mission with air can. In addition, efforts are being made to transfer the energy from water, to dispense with the LSB and may just have to need a buoy for the communication links. For the same reason CO2 recycling systems are tested. Also on the increase in the maximum depth is worked.
Swell
- Spiegel Online article of 5 March 2008
- NOAA site on the Aquarius habitat
- UNCW website over the Aquarius habitat