The Caribbean island of Curaçao, a close neighbor of both Aruba and Venezuela, is the chosen location of the first of potentially many underwater “space stations” planned by the Proteus Ocean Group to study submerged environments all around the world. A marine protected area, 60 feet below the surface, has been selected as the site for the initial research station. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, is one of the driving forces behind this project.
When SCUBA divers explore the depths, their time is limited by the amount of air in their oxygen tanks and the need to decompress slowly as they surface. Having a base station to work out of at depth saves a great deal of time, allowing ocean scientists to stay below for weeks at a time. This isn’t a new idea: dozens of underwater laboratory habitats have been constructed since the 1960s, although none were as large as Proteus, and only one of these stations still exists and is still in use. Proteus is expected to cost $135 million dollars, and won’t be completed until 2025 at the earliest.
“Aquanaut Fabien Cousteau’s $135 Million ISS Of The Deep Sea | Forbes” (5:43)
“Fabien Cousteau: What I learned from spending 31 days underwater” (10:52)
