

Conshelf experiments - pierre
http://www.cousteau.org/technology/conshelf-i-ii-iii/

======
brownbat
A lot of people talk about interstellar colonization as a path to human
survival of mass extinction events.

It seems like if we're serious about that, we'd start by learning how to
colonize hostile environments here on Earth, like the ocean floor.

Any long space voyage, even to the outer solar system, will depend on knowing
how to put large numbers of people in a self-sustaining sealed environment.

We have the chance to put our engineering skills to the test right now, while
conducting overlooked scientific research.

NOAA and NASA are both facing steep budget cuts. Part of me would like to see
them integrated, since NOAA uses satellites to study the ocean and astronauts
have used the ocean to train for space. It might eliminate some redundancy,
help compare priorities, and maybe together they could levy a stronger, joint
fight for funding scientific progress.

------
pavel_lishin
> _Conshelf proved that human beings can live under the sea for long periods
> of time but that, even though they have the physical and psychological
> capabilities, humans are not made to exist in a world without sun._

I wish they'd go into more detail about this. Vitamin D deficiency? The lack
of external cues for circadian rhythms?

~~~
dalke
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Without_Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Without_Sun)
? Available at
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIjgL2lkwA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIjgL2lkwA)
. Don't know what details it covers - just found out about it now when
researching your question.

Edit:
[https://youtu.be/6cIjgL2lkwA?t=1138](https://youtu.be/6cIjgL2lkwA?t=1138)
says that the aquanauts take turns 'sunbathing' in UV rays for 10 minutes each
day, for health and morale. At around 18:00 "Their sense of time has become
hazy. They neglect the clock and the calendar."

