The APUS Analog Research Group formed a crew for an aquatic mission known as PIRATE (Paired In-situ Research Analog and Technology Evaluation). This was an overnight mission at the Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida.
AARG PIRATE Crew Roster:
Mission Commander - Scott Van Hoy
Faculty Advisor - Dr. Kristin Drexler
Mission Specialist - Olivia Turner
Mission Specialist - Luis Gonzalez
ARG PIRATE Crew Journal - By Mission Commander Scott Van Hoy
January 2 - Luis Gonzalez and I drove down to Key Largo and Dr. Kristin Drexler flew in. Olivia Turner was already in town. We met for dinner at a restaurant called Sharkey's Sharkbite Grill and we all met in person for the first time. Terry Trevino also joined us.
January 3 - We arrived at Jules Undersea Lodge at 0800, rented gear, conducted research training, got breakfast while briefing the day ahead, and completed any required paperwork. We geared up to dive and entered the habitat around 1330 after a familiarization dive around the facility and the lagoon in which it is situated.
photo by Terry Trevino
We immediately started the stakeholders live stream:
Photo by Dr. Kristin Drexler
Next the crew proceeded to get settled in the habitat, and ate dinner while watching the documentary My Octopus Teacher, and that evening we conducted the student group livestream. At night, we conducted a night excursion dive to fulfill the PADI Aquanaut specialty certification requirement.
Photo by Dr. Kristen Drexler
Photo by Dr. Kristen Drexler
January 4 - We woke up, ate breakfast, and worked on recording videos to later be used for outreach with Niceville High School, 5th-grade classes, and an elderly community. After completing the videos, we began to strip and clean the habitat and prepare for egress. The Air Condition Pump began to malfunction which resulted in some discussions about off-nominal procedures, and the pump issues were reported to the Jules mission director who came down to make a repair. At 1330, 24 hours after ingress, we left the habitat, conducted a short dive to take photos of the university flags, and proceeded to the surface. After egress, we conducted ultrasound measurements for the Venous Gas Emboli research study. We cleaned up and got dinner with the University of North Dakota Team, who would enter the next day.
Photo by Richard Williams
Photo by Richard Williams
January 5 - We met at Jules at 0800 to complete our Aquanaut certification paperwork and to help the UND team prepare for ingress. After UND set up their HF radio antenna, used to communicate with other people worldwide, including the International Space Station, they ingressed into the habitat at 1130. Also, Terry Trevino and Dr. Drexler took a boat out to the Gulf Stream to collect water samples for an ongoing nanoplastics study. After UND ingressed, the AARG team went to the History of Diving Museum and then to dinner with the former research director of Aquarius Reef Base.
January 6 - Luis was at Jules before sunrise to help the Jules mission director set up UND's deployable radio antenna. The rest of the crew worked on catching up with all of the content created during the mission and with everyday lives. At 1100, the crew met up at Jules to document UND's egress and conduct additional VGE measurements on the UND crew. Overall, the UND and AARG teams were mutually supportive of one another.
Jules Undersea Lodge has a ton of history, and staying there was a great experience. 24 hours truly wasn't enough for everything we wanted to do. I'm excited about the results of my VGE study, the outreach still being put together, and the lessons the crew learned. UND is already discussing making this a yearly project, and GaTech is currently planning to stay there in a few months from now.
After the PIRATE mission, specialist Olivia Turner wrote a summary of the experience from her perspective: "When taking the last submerged step from the weathered wooden diving deck to wade into the dark, murky waters before descending into the lagoon came the feeling of severing the threshold between leaving the familiar solid ground of Earth and floating into the vast unknown of outer space or the ocean. The reality of the connection between sea and space hit home. When entering this alien world, I realize I am entirely at the mercy of my equipment, my life support system, and rely on my training and the crew's training as we navigate and explore the mysteries beneath. The ocean is another world, an extreme environment with considerable risks, cold waters, increased pressure, and little to zero visibility. One mistake could cost you your life--terrifying. The Jules' habitat was only one atmosphere down, but the lagoon environment was still foreign and unexplored by our crew. Despite the harsh realities of the two environments, the experience is unforgettable and well worth the risks.
I was filled with a high level of excited, nervous energy. Similarly, like one may experience before playing a competitive sport. I was jumping up and down and thrusting my arms down and away from my body, attempting to relieve some energy. Once I entered the water, it was game time, and I became hyper-focused on what I needed to do for myself and the crew. Entering the moon pool for the first time was a wonderful experience. The sound of my breather (regulator) echoed louder as I breached the moon pool. Dr. Drexler, Luis, Scott, and I were euphoric to be huddled together in this section of the habitat. We made it!
Later, on our first-ever night dive, joyful giggles emerged from my regulator as I watched the glow of the bioluminescence surround my hands while I traced blue heart shapes that briefly lit up the piercing darkness. My inner child escaped as I played with several cone jellyfish, twirling their glowing blue bodies around my index fingers and giving them a fun, brief ride of their lives. Seeing different marine life appear from around crevices or hanging out atop the habitat was visually striking and thrilling. It was so amazing!!!
Once inside Jules' habitat, another inner child moment came from entering and exiting each facility section. Like the round entrances found at the playgrounds, you would grab the steel bar above each entrance and sling your body down, turn around, pull your body up, or pop up through or crawl/slide down into the next area. Doh! I remind myself what we're here for and set up my 'Tempo' discs and 'ThermoPro' to collect readings. I place one disc in the sleeping quarters, the other in the moon pool, and the ThermoPro in the living quarters. The discs will record data every hour and send the information via Bluetooth to the phone app. Technology is amazing!! The habitat was really incredible! Looking out the bedroom viewing window, I am reminded of just how fragile life truly is for us all. The habitat is pressurized and filled with air. Still, we are at the mercy of the hull remaining intact, the air, drinking water, electricity, and internet flowing so we may function as normally as possible while living in the underwater habitat. The 42-inch round window and maybe 8- to 10-inch-thick glass separated us from the ocean world, but it also provided a looking glass for dual observing. I awoke early in the morning to find several marine life, cone jellyfish, and various-sized fish floating and swimming at the window as if they, too, were curious about us and observing us in our 'natural' habitat as we were of them in theirs.
It was so surreal to process this experience, and I will never forget reminding everyone before going to sleep with a similar 'knock-knock joke' when I asked the crew, 'Hey, Crew, guess what?" Individual replies of, "What?" "We're sleeping, in the Jules' lodge, under the sea!!' A chorus of laughter erupts from everyone. Working with such a fantastic crew filled me with so much joy and honor. I had no fear or doubt about achieving our pursuits. Go Pirates!
The experience was unforgettable, and I see immense value in conducting future research missions and the benefit of gaining an understanding and appreciation for the connection between sea and space.
-Turner
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