The underwater value is analogous to a backpacking excursion – we certainly learn more from an overnight in the environment than a short walk in the park. That step has not yet been taken in the underwater world in an affordable and accessible way for the masses.
In June–July 1964, Ed Link – businessman, inventor, philanthropist – conducted his second Man-in-the-Sea experiment in the Berry Islands (a chain in the Bahamas) with Robert Sténuit and Jon Lindbergh, one of the sons of Charles Lindbergh. Sténuit and Lindbergh stayed in Link’s SPID habitat (Submersible, Portable, Inflatable Dwelling) for 49 hours underwater at a depth of 432 feet (132 m), breathing
Given my own recent activity in the field of undersea habitation, I’ve received numerous inquiries as to my thoughts on permanent undersea stations, so have taken some time to summarize here. My perspective is a bit cynical, though comes from having developed, operated, and generated intellectual property behind our own habitat technology, while making a
Undersea habitation was a prominent endeavor in the 1960’s and 1970’s, fueled by emerging needs for deep oilfield work, as well as use as a proxy for human space exploration. The historical effort gave rise to mobile saturation diving commonplace today, and the field of hyperbaric medicine. Permanent subsea stations to facilitate place based marine science (“being there”) have not been sustainable. and generally ignore practical concerns that led to the evolution away from this concept in favor of mobile sat systems.
Our patented Ocean Space Habitat technology fills a unique niche by leveraging mainstream and well accepted 21st century technical diving techniques – short (hours) and mid-duration (days) excursions are affordable, put vast range extensions (depth & duration) at our fingertips, afford work space within challenging environments, and are not limited to just one single geographical location – Ocean Space Habitat(s) are portable, lightweight, and can be deployed anywhere with minimal support as simple extensions of today’s technical diving paradigm.
Ocean Space Habitat has been deployed multiple times since 2012 to demonstrate unique capabilities and has been featured by National Geographic, Discovery’s Shark Week, and a number of other media outlets. Those seeking these novel capabilities are welcomed to contact us to discuss collaborations.
| year | demonstration objective | location | divers | primary sponsors |
| 2012 | use to augment lengthy decompression, openwater deployment | Exumas, Bahamas | Lombardi, Godfrey | National Geographic Society/Waitt Grants, Subsalve USA, Lombardi Undersea |
| 2015 | deploy beneath overhead structure in very remote location, self-contained life support | Kat O Island, Hong Kong | Lombardi, Chan, students | City University of Hong Kong, Lombardi Undersea |
| 2018 | beach deployment, no surface support | Portsmouth, RI | Lombardi, Burleson | New York University, Lombardi Undersea |
| 2021 | 12 hour operational deployment | Andros, Bahamas | Guttridge, Glancy | Discovery+, Subsalve USA |
| 2023 | overnight sleep period with demonstrated science tasks | Biosphere 2 Ocean, AZ | Burleson, Silverstein, Carr | University of Arizona, Lombardi Undersea |
