Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - aquanauts

Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 broke new ground in ocean exploration and also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the monumental legacy left by his grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who is credited with creating the first ocean floor habitats for humans and leading a team of ocean explorers on the first attempt to live and work underwater aboard Conshelf Two. The ambitious 30-day living experiment in the Red Sea succeeded as the first effort in saturation diving, proving that it could be done without suffering any ill effects. Mission 31 broadened the original Cousteau experiment by 1 full day, 30 more feet of saturation and broadcasted each moment on multiple channels exposing the world to the adventure, risk and mystique of what lies beneath.

During decades this reef base for underwater observation and research has been fundamental in understanding reef dynamics and is unique in its capability to continuously house teams of scientists to research a variety of subjects related to Marine Biology, Oceanography and other fields of study. NOAA’s Aquarius Reef Base is an underwater habitat located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to Conch Reef. It is one of the few underwater research facilities in the world dedicated exclusively to scientific research. Aquarius is owned by the NOAA and operated by the University of North Carolina–Wilmington until 2013 when Florida International University (FIU) took over operations.