Fabien Cousteau, grandson of legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, wants to build the equivalent of the International Space Station (ISS), but at the bottom of the ocean far below the surface, as CNN reports.
With the help of industrial designer Yves Béhar, Cosuteau revealed his bold ambition: a 4,000-square-foot laboratory called Proteus that could offer a team of up to 12 researchers from around the world easy access to the ocean floor. The plan is to build it in just three years.
The most striking design element of his vision is a series of protruding bubble-shaped pods, extending from two circular structures stacked on top of each other. Each capsule is expected to be assigned a different purpose, ranging from medical bays to laboratories and personal rooms.
“We wanted it to be new, different, inspiring and futuristic,” said Béhar. CNN. “So [we looked] in everything from science fiction to modular housing and Japanese pod [hotels]. “
The team claims that Proteus will unveil the world’s first underwater greenhouse, intended to grow food for anyone stationed there.
The energy will come from wind, thermal and solar energy.
“Ocean exploration is 1,000 times more important than space exploration for, selfishly, our survival, for our journey into the future,” said Cousteau CNN. “It is our life support system. It is the reason why we exist in the first place. ”
Space exploration gets much more funding than its oceanic counterpart, according to CNN, even though humans have only explored around five percent of Earth’s oceans, and mapped only 20 percent.
The Proteus would only bind to another permanent underwater habitat, the Aquarium off the Florida coast, which has been used by NASA to simulate the lunar surface.
READ MORE: Ambitious designs for underwater ‘space station’ and habitat presented[[[[CNN]
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