Proteus: Underwater research lab worthy of a Bond villain | Hacker News Reader

Proteus: Underwater research lab worthy of a Bond villain

cnet.com

24 pointsshivghosh815 comments

> The plan is to build Proteus off the coast of the Caribbean island of Curaçao, at a depth of 60 feet (~18m).

An underwater lab at only 2 atmospheres on an island famous for its shore diving accessible by car? This reminds me of a Freeman Dyson quote I referenced [0] in a different thread on underwater exploration:

> [The Russians] are very proud of the space station and for good reasons. They believe that human activities in space are an end in itself, essentially as an international sporting event. They don't sell it under false pretences as a scientific program.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23482656

[1] https://perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/living-through-four-rev...

Why do they want to build in near Curaçao? Sounds like a great way to ruin the already weak water ecosystem near Curacao. I have to admit I have a summer house in Curaçao so might be biased.

I suspect that the same characteristics that make Bonaire and Curaçao a haven for shore diving simplify the design of the underwater lab:

> Fresh air, power and internet will be provided by an umbilical cable to the surface.

>> One of the other big names he's enlisted is Yves Béhar, a name you might recognize from a variety of tech projects like One Laptop per Child. He and his company Fuzeproject designed the futuristic-looking station.

Um ... wasn't that the premise behind an Archer episode? Sea Tunt? The rich Tunt brother had backed both the sea base and one laptop per child. Is this the tail wagging the dog or at some personal level is there a link to the show?

That is an interesting connection for sure. The gag was "One Laptop per Child Soldier": https://archer.fandom.com/wiki/Cecil_Tunt

It's worth mentioning that there were many similar and even larger (and also much deeper) underwater labs and habitats since the 1960s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_habitat

So.....an underwater lab where the whole premise is not having to do a lengthy decompression....and yet it's only down at 18m depth? Reading the article I thought they were aiming for much deeper than that, it seems like there's hardly any benefit at the dept given. According to this[0] table, decompression from that depth takes just 2 hours?

[0] https://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/dvis5.pdf

If we are comparing this thing to the ISS, an emergency return from the ISS would take just under five hours. So someone with an appendicitis can probably get home before dying. Much further away than a few hours and otherwise routine medical emergencies start get much more difficult.

That's why you just send the doctor down to the sea lab!

Or have a chamber nearby on the surface staffed by doctors trained in hyperbaric medicine [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_medicine

And how else would you evaluate tissue samples from $MONSTER?

Funny the story completely missed "Fantastic Voyage" movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage) which had a research submarine called "Proteus".

I was happy to read that at least some of the journalists covering Victor Vescovo's recent dives got the references in his vessel names (I think it's not unlikely the later ones cribbed off the first few articles).

Someone's been playing too much Subnautica

I don't really get this - is the bends the only reason for doing this? If so, why not mix some other inert gas than Nitrogen that doesn't have the problem?

Cool base though :)

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