Staff training and system checks
Principal Investigator: Otto Rutten
The first Aquarius saturation mission for 2007 will be a combination of mission setup/“shakedown dive” for the habitat and Life Support Buoy (LSB), following winter maintenance on all the topside and underwater support equipment, as well as a continuation of the cooperative effort with NAVSEA and Navy Diving. A short four day saturation dive will be conducted to fully test the habitat systems for the longer 12 day NASA NEEMO 12 mission to follow in May. The Kamper underwater waystation will be set up and its umbilical attached, using staff and Navy divers, saturated in Aquarius with extensive bottom times. Additionally the mission’s goals are:
- To develop and expand upon existing cooperative efforts between the US Navy Diving/NAVSEA and the NOAA Undersea Research Center/University of North Carolina Wilmington, specifically with use of the Aquarius habitat for fly away saturation system bell training.
- To determine ways in which the respective programs might better interface with each other to exchange advice and assistance on new procedures, equipment, technologies, or other factors that lead to enhanced safety of diving operations.
- To assist NURC in initiating the 2007 mission season and fully test systems brought back on line after winter maintenance/refurbishment following the 2006 season.