NASA Announces Dates And Crew of Next Undersea Exploration Mission

From UnderwaterTimes:

NASA will send two astronauts, a veteran undersea engineer and an experienced scientist into the ocean depths off Florida's east coast this month to test exploration concepts and learn more about working in an unforgiving, treacherous environment. The 14th expedition of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, begins May 10.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut and veteran spacewalker Chris Hadfield will lead the NASA team on a 14-day undersea mission aboard the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory near Key Largo. Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

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During NEEMO 14, the ocean floor will simulate aspects of another planet's surface and a low-gravity environment. In October 2009, a team of aquanauts set the stage for NEEMO 14 by placing mockups near Aquarius of a lander, rover and small crane that simulates a robotic arm.

The NEEMO 14 crew will live aboard the underwater laboratory, venture out on simulated spacewalks, operate the crane and maneuver the vehicles much like explorers would in setting up a habitat on another planet. As the aquanauts interact with these developing technologies, they will provide information and feedback to NASA engineers.

The crew will simulate removing a mockup of the Lunar Electric Rover from the lander, retrieve small payloads from the lander and the ocean floor, and simulate the transfer of an incapacitated astronaut from the ocean floor to the deck of the craft.

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Boy Who Lost Limbs in Gaza War Finds His Sea Legs

Regardless of your policital leanings about the conflict, here's a touching story born out of the embattled region.

When Khalil al Jedaili first saw Dubai’s beaches, he was indifferent. “Only donkeys wash in the ocean,” the 17-year-old said.

Back home, in Al Breij refugee camp, in the Gaza strip, swimming was not part of his life, even before he lost his legs in an Israeli air raid last year.

Just a few weeks after dismissing Dubai’s beach lifestyle, Khalil is not only swimming but exploring its coral reefs in full scuba diving gear.

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While he waited for his new legs to be fitted – “He has practised with them already,” said the fund’s Iman Odeh-Yabroudi – Khalil was offered the chance to go scuba diving.

He enjoyed it so much that he asked if he could learn to dive properly. “It is a completely different world,” he said. “I like the fish and I also like how quiet it is.”

It was not been easy. Without feet – and therefore without fins – he has to use his upper body to propel himself, which requires far more exertion than standard swimming.

He has to be careful, too – because his hands are extended in front of him as he swims, he needs to pay close attention to the hoses that connect his air tank and other pieces of equipment.

He also tends to get cold in the water a lot quicker.

But, said Ernst van der Poll, who founded the diving and education charity Tawasul and has been teaching Khalil to dive, the boy has persevered despite these challenges. “It has been such a pleasure teaching him because of his can-do attitude,” he said.

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Ours is a truly an amazing sport, is it not?

Is Scuba More Deadly for Divers in Their 50s?

That's the question this article answers in the affirmative.

Aviva Diodato, a visitor from Arizona, was on a dive trip out of Islamorada two weeks ago when things went horribly wrong.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Diodato asked for assistance during her group's first dive of the day and surfaced early. She made it safely to the stern of the dive boat and was removing her gear when she started to drift. By the time Diodato was located 15 to 20 minutes later, she was no longer breathing and her heart had stopped. Paramedics pronounced her dead upon reaching shore.

Diodato, who was 51, was the third diving fatality in the Florida Keys this year. And like her, the two other victims, Carol Strickland of Tallahassee and Thomas Pickett from Texas, were in their 50s.

In fact, Monroe County Medical Examiner's records dating back to September 2008, the time frame for which the office has reports logged on computer files, show that 10 of the 16 divers who perished were at least 50 years old. Both snorkelers who died during that period were also at least 50.

In addition, a Free Press review of articles and Sheriff's Office reports on Keys dive deaths for the eight months between November 2008 and the last days of 2007 show that four of eight divers who died were at least 50 as were both of the snorkelers who perished.

It's a small sample, but disturbing nonetheless. However, in this age of shock and awe journalism, give the article author credit for doing his due diligence and bringing some context to the numbers.

Some dive shop owners say the reason that many of the diving fatalities in the Keys occur among older clientele is simple demographics of who's putting on a scuba tank these days.

Middle-aged people are the ones who can afford the cost of a dive charter -- which can run up to $200 a day when factoring in equipment, said Connie Boykin, manager of Ocean Divers in Key Largo.

"You have to take in the factor of cost. Consensus with us is that [our customers] are in their 50s," she said.

There's more from where that came.

Scuba Volunteers Map Channel Islands Archeological Sites

Right here in our own backyard.

A dedicated group of volunteer scuba divers employ their expertise surveying underwater archeology in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary.

Coastal Maritime Archeology Resources members spend about a week living aboard research vessels twice a year, to measure and map shipwrecks, sunken airplanes and archeological sites scattered on the ocean floor.

CMAR Director of Operations Patrick Smith says there’s nothing quite like seeing a shipwreck for the first time. “It’s indescribable. There’s excitement, maybe a little bit of trepidation,” says Smith. “There’s that wonderful feeling of breaching the unknown. There’s the anticipation of seeing something that nobody has seen for scores of years, or maybe hundreds of years.”

Smith says diving on shipwrecks evokes thoughts about the people who sailed on the historic vessels and sometimes perished aboard them. “Each shipwreck is unique. They are a snapshot of that period of time, and they become a time capsule of that period of time,” says Smith. “A shipwreck goes down, and it freezes that moment. It freezes all aspects of the human environment. What the people were eating and wearing. You can tell what their technology was.

It’s just a wonderful snapshot of history and humanity.”

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Underwater 'Safe' Guards £5m Shipwreck

Welp, that's one way to protect a treasure.

A shipwreck containing £5million worth of ancient treasures is being protected by a cage, creating a giant underwater safe, in Croatia.

The second century Greek trading vessel lies on the sea bed off the coast of Cavtat.

Little remains of the wooden ship but its cargo of earthenware amphora - ceramic vases - still remain stacked row upon row.

The vases, which originally contained olive oil and wine, are still tightly packed into the cargo hold as they were centuries ago.

Its cargo - one of the best preserved from an ancient wreck - has great historical significance and has an estimated value of £5m on the black market.

Croatian authorities are so concerned about looters plundering the valuable artefacts they have now protected the site - with a metal cage.

The heavy-duty cage features a large hinged door, which is kept locked with occasional access granted for divers under strict supervision.

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Cave Diver's Body Recovered After 39 Years

Wow.

The body of a student cave diver, which has lain in one of the UK's most dangerous cave systems since his death 39 years ago, has been recovered.

Paul Esser, a medical student at Bristol University, was just 21 when he disappeared in the Porth yr Ogof cave system at Ystradfellte, Powys in 1971.

His remains were finally recovered a week ago by two members of the West Brecon Cave Rescue Team.

Powys coroner Peter Maddox recorded a verdict of accidental death.

According to reports following Mr Esser's death in February 1971, it was understood that he had followed the wrong line as he made for an exit, and ran out of air.

A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said: "Although he was located at that time in the caves, his body was never able to be recovered despite several attempts over the following weeks and as a result he has remained in the location he died."

Family members, who were living in Surrey at the time of his death, were at the scene as his remains were finally brought to the surface on Thursday, and released to hold a funeral.

Recording the accidental death verdict, the Powys coroner said the cause of death remains "unascertained".

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