Jacques Cousteau (11 June, 1910 – 25 June, 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author as well as a researcher. He studied the sea and all forms of life in water. However, now what the news is buzzing around is his grandson Fabien Cousteau has planned to live underwater for a month.
Aquarius Reef Base (well known as Aquarius) is the world’s last undersea lab. It is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North Carolina–Wilmington. This world’s last undersea lab is dedicated to science. This 81-ton laboratory is situated 63 feet below the ocean’s surface, on the bottom of Conch Reef. NASA has used this underwater lab for a mock asteroid mission training.
Although it’s been reported that Aquarius may shut down forever due to not getting sufficient maintenance cost from the government, still it hasn’t been shut down. And now, Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Fabien Cousteau has decided to spend a month at Aquarius Reef Base along with some co-aquanauts in order to study the natural life on the ocean floor and the effects of living underwater on humans.
Cousteau’s this underwater expedition is dubbed “Mission 31.” He will live there for around a month, starting November 12. To be noted that, staying 10 days there is equivalent to face death. And Mission 31 will be the longest time a group will spend inside Aquarius ever.
However, Cousteau needs $100,000 funding for his Mission 31, which he is trying to gather via popular crowdfunding source Indiegogo. Mission 31 also plans to record the entire trip so that people on land can watch the aquanauts live and work underwater. If you help crowdfund the project, you can receive a photograph ($25), a question answered by an aquanaut ($600), and or a trip down to the lab ($25,000).
Source: CBS News
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