Scientists Hope to Build Deep-Sea Station

ByABC News
August 14, 2002, 9:22 AM

Aug. 20 -- As astronauts continue construction on the world's largest outpost in space, some hope to begin building a research base at the other end of our world deep under the ocean.

The proposed Ocean Atmosphere Seafloor Integration Study, or OASIS, would offer aquanauts (the underwater version of astronauts) a permanent perch on the continental shelf about 600 feet below the ocean surface. And unlike a journey to the International Space Station, a trip to an ocean base could be as easy as stepping on an elevator and pushing "down."

"Right now, we're very limited in the amount of time you can stay at the bottom," says Richard Cooper, founder of Ocean Technology Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Groton, Conn., and a professor of Marine Sciences at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point. "This could give us the ability to go deeper and stay down much longer."

Two Versions

The OASIS proposal remains just that a proposal. In order to make it happen, Cooper and his crew are lobbying different groups including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy for the estimated $60 million required to execute the plan.

This could be a tough battle, since many research centers are vying for scraps of the nation's meager $400 million ocean research budget. Some think other proposals, including a new deep-water submersible to replace the aging Alvin and the installation of remotely controlled instruments on the ocean floor might have better chances.

But Cooper and his team remain hopeful, and to help sell their idea they have fine-tuned a couple blueprints.

As envisioned, OASIS could take one of two forms. Ocean Base One would be a fixed station on the seafloor the size of a large supermarket. A more mobile version, called the Fathom Explorer, would carry a long elevator and undersea station on board a converted 1,000-foot-long oil tanker. At any given moment, the stem-like elevator with the attached station could be lowered from the boat's middle into the deep like a jackknife blade extending from its handle.