The Times - UK (2020-08-01)

the times | Saturday August 1 2020 2GM 3

News

Caracas

VENENEZUEZUELAELA

Caribbean

Sea

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Curacao

Possible location of

station, 60ft belowbbbbb

the surface

It may not be 20,000 leagues under the
sea, but an underwater base destined
for a stretch of Caribbean sea bed is
drawing comparisons with the science-
fiction world of Jules Verne.
The two-storey structure is the
brainchild of Fabien Cousteau, grand-
son of the French explorer Jacques, and
is to be sited 18m (60ft) underwater off
the sland of Curacao. It is intended to be
the ocean’s equivalent of the Inter-
national Space Sta-
tion (ISS) when
completed in about
three years’ time.
Called Proteus,
after the Greek sea
god, it will accom-
modate laboratories,
a greenhouse and
sleeping quarters
capable of support-
ing 12 scientists for
days at a time. They
will research climate
change, look for new
species of marine life
and new medicines,
and test technology,
particularly in robot-
ics and aquaculture.
Mr Cousteau hopes
that the project, con-
ceived with the Swiss
designer Yves Behar,
will encourage world-
wide co-operation in the same manner
as the ISS, allowing scientists to study
the submarine environment without
having to decompress between dives,
making research up to 30 times quicker.
At present, the only equivalent facili-
ty is Aquarius in Florida, which was
built by the US navy in 1986 and is a
tenth of the size. Mr Cousteau spent 31
days filming there in 2014 as a tribute to
his grandfather, a pioneer of scuba
diving and marine conservation.
Mr Cousteau, who started scuba div-
ing aged four, is the third generation of
aquanaut in his family: his father, Jean-
Michel, is a prominent film-maker,
educator and environmentalist. He is
continuing the work of his grandfather,

Marine marvels

Floating tunnel As part of its

£36 billion coastal highway

scheme, Norway is

pioneering floating tunnels

to cross some of its deepest

fjords. Effectively air-filled

concrete tubes, tethered

30m below the waves, they

are cheaper than tunnelling

or bridge-building and, it is

claimed, strong enough to

survive collisions with ships

or submarines. A variant

proposed between Scotland

and Northern Ireland is

being studied by Downing

Street.

Underwater

restaurant

Norway also has

the world’s

largest

underwater

restaurant,

which plunges

to a depth of

5m with a huge

panoramic

window

offering views

of the seabed.

Designed by the company

Snohetta and opened last

year, the restaurant doubles

as a marine research centre

and will eventually become

an artificial reef.

Aquatic warehouse In 2017,

Amazon filed a patent for

submerged depots that

could use lakes and

reservoirs to hold products.

Watertight cases would be

deposited at the storage

facility by lorry, or even

parachute, and summoned

to the surface when a noise-

activated air canister

attached to them inflated a

balloon.

The oceanscraper Proposed

by Vincent Callebaut, the

Belgian architect, Aequorea

would be capable of hosting

20,000 people, spiralling

down from marinas on the

surface. Shimizu

Corporation, the Japanese

company, claims its very

similar scheme could be

made a reality by 2030.

who pioneered under-

water habitats. Jacques,

who died in 1997 aged

87, built the first sub-

marine dwelling for

two people, called Con-

shelf I, in 1962 at a

depth of ten metres off

Marseilles.

He spent 30 days in Conshelf II in the

Red Sea the following year. The footage

he filmed was turned into an Oscar-

winning documentary, World Without

Sun. His subsequent TV series is cred-

ited with inspiring a generation of

marine biologists.

“We spend 100 times more on

exploring space than exploring the

oceans, but the oceans are our life-

support systems,” Mr Cousteau

said. “How can we make the right

decisions for our future if we

don’t know what’s going on down

there? We’ve explored less than

5 per cent of the ocean and 1 per

cent of the deep ocean and yet there are

so many opportunities for scientific

progress: there could be cures for

cancer or new antiviral drugs in the

flora and fauna... and we can learn how

to live in extreme environments, like on

the dark side of the moon.”

He added: “My grandfather believed

we could live beneath the sea but we

have lost our way. It’s time to repair the

human-ocean connection and prove

that humanity’s future is bound up with

what happens below the waves.”

Hugh Broughton, the architect re-

sponsible for Britain’s Halley VI and

New Zealand’s Scott Antarctic research

stations, said: “It does look like some-

thing out of Jules Verne. Extreme envi-

ronments generate their own architec-

ture to a degree and it does end up a bit

sci-fi. It’s not too different from an

isolated Antarctic base or the ISS but I

expect it won’t look quite as sexy and

curvaceous once they get to grips with

all the engineering challenges.”

Powered by ocean thermal energy

conversion, which exploits the temper-

ature differential between warm water

on the surface and cold water at depth,

Mr Cousteau and Mr Behar want the

£100 million project to be the first of

seven to eight stations, some of which

could warn of tsunamis and hurricanes.

The construction of Proteus is due to

start next month after a delay imposed

by the pandemic, but a fundraising

campaign has some way to go.

The base is expected to cost

£2.3 million a year to run after

the first three years. Mr

Cousteau is keeping

quiet about where

the money will

come from despite

having won the

backing of US in-

stitutions includ-

ing Northeastern

and Rutgers uni-

versities.

Leading article,

page 29

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Fabien Cousteau,

below, is following in

the footsteps of his

grandfather, Jacques

Fabien Cousteau’s

research base will be

the space station

of the deep, reports

Jonathan Morrison

Sci-fi vision at the bottom of the sea

YVES BÉHAR/FUSEPROJECT