Today, astronauts aren't just riding in centrifuges and flight simulators to prepare for liftoff. Now, before they go weightless, some of NASA's finest are getting wet. Nearly four miles off Florida's coast and 60 feet underwater lies Aquarius, an underwater lab where marine biologists mingle with NASA astronauts. NASA uses the undersea site as a training ground for teams - call them aquanauts - because the hostile, isolated environment on the seafloor mimics the environment in orbit. We All Live in a Yellow Submarine Aquarius, a hulking yellow tube, resembles an oversize school bus sitting on the sea floor in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary 3.5 miles off Key Largo. The structure - owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and managed by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington - sits next to deep coral reefs 60 feet below the ocean surface. Marine biologists usually use the lab to study the reef and marine life in the surrounding water. But now it's being used for missions many miles above the Earth's surface. The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations program (NEEMO) has sent five crews to live in Aquarius. The latest mission, NEEMO 5, was the longest. For 14 days the crew, made up of three astronauts and a NASA scientist, experienced some of the same tasks and challenges underwater that they'll experience on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA feels the extreme, isolated environment mimics that of space and, therefore, provides the perfect training ground. Giant elevator entry | | Getting Their Feet Wet "We're actually going to be performing a near-space mission underwater," astronaut Clayton Anderson said before the mission. "The analogies are numerous in terms of leaving a safe environment and going into a hazardous environment." Anderson was joined on Aquarius by ISS astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson and Garret Reisman, as well as NASA scientist Emma Hwang. Anderson and his fellow crew members conducted a dozen medical and technical experiments while onboard. Many of the experiments were designed to improve life in space and make it safer for explorers. The Aquarius habitat houses sophisticated lab equipment and computers, enabling scientists to perform research and process samples without leaving their underwater facilities. Since being built in 1986 the lab has played host to more than 200 scientists from around the world. "We are going to do a hearing experiment. We are going to do ultrasound on each other and transmit that data to a scientist who is listening and talking to us, interactively, as we do it," Anderson said, adding that other experiments will help astronauts perform spacewalks. At Aquarius the team also practiced building undersea structures, much as they'll build structures outside the ISS. Space Food, Not Seafood "We are going to take new communication equipment outside the habitat and see how it works," Anderson said. A highlight of the mission was when the NEEMO 5 crew contacted its space counterparts onboard the ISS. With some help from NASA the two teams were able to swap stories for a few moments. The space station crew was surprised to learn that the NEEMO 5 crew was eating the same food they were eating. Actually, crew members say, it was food left over from previous space missions. The goal, again: Keep the underwater experience true to life in space. SOURCE - Tech One, CDNN |
