Florida International University (FIU) took ownership of Aquarius in October 2014. As part of the FIU Marine Education and Research Initiative, the Medina Aquarius Program is dedicated to the study and preservation of marine ecosystems worldwide and is enhancing the scope and impact of FIU on research, educational outreach, technology development, and professional training. At the heart of the program is the Aquarius Reef URL Since 2001, NASA has used Aquarius for its NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) analog missions, sending groups of astronauts to simulate human spaceflight space exploration missions. Much like space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. NEEMO crew members experience some of the same challenges there that they would on a distant asteroid, planet or moon. During NEEMO missions in Aquarius, the aquanauts are able to simulate living on a spacecraft and test spacewalk techniques for future space missions. The underwater condition has the additional benefit of allowing NASA to "weight" the aquanauts to simulate different gravity URL General references ENN. Age of Aquarius: Undersea lab immersed in coral reef research, 2000. NOAA. Hurricane Charlie cuts short Aquarius undersea mission, 2004 Plain, C. From the Ocean Depths to Deep Space, 2004 URL
Florida International University (FIU) took ownership of Aquarius in October 2014. As part of the FIU Marine Education and Research Initiative, the Medina Aquarius Program is dedicated to the study and preservation of marine ecosystems worldwide and is enhancing the scope and impact of FIU on research, educational outreach, technology development, and professional training. At the heart of the program is the Aquarius Reef Base. Since 2001, NASA has used Aquarius for its NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) analog missions, sending groups of astronauts to simulate human spaceflight space exploration missions. Much like space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. NEEMO crew members experience some of the same challenges there that they would on a distant asteroid, planet or moon. During NEEMO missions in Aquarius, the aquanauts are able to simulate living on a spacecraft and test spacewalk techniques for future space missions. The underwater condition has the additional benefit of allowing NASA to "weight" the aquanauts to simulate different gravity environments. General references ENN. Age of Aquarius: Undersea lab immersed in coral reef research, 2000. NOAA. Hurricane Charlie cuts short Aquarius undersea mission, 2004 Plain, C. From the Ocean Depths to Deep Space, 2004 Deep Science @ National Geographic Magazine
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Deep Science @ National Geographic Magazine