Being an Aquarius Habitat Technician
Each mission two of our expert habitat technicians are part of the aquanaut team. Ever wonder what they do down there and what it is like to be a habitat technician in Aquarius?
James Talacek is the lead habitat technician in Aquarius this mission. He says that the primary job of a Habitat Technician (HabTech) is operation and maintenance of Aquarius. For he and Nathan Bender (the other habtech this mission) the day starts at 6:00am when they perform a daily checklist that covers all aspects of habitat operations and ensures that all systems are ready for another day of diving.
They next act as divemasters for the scientist aquanauts, getting them out diving on the reef to work on their various science projects and overseeing their dive plans and safety.
After that James and Nate spend the day monitoring life support systems and communicating and coordinating with the shorebase crew on conditions in the habitat, daily needs, and any issues that arise. When the surface crew comes out to make deliveries, they work with them to receive supplies. They each also spend quite a bit of time in the water using rebreathers or on hookah to perform habitat husbandry (scraping, cleaning, and all general maintenance activities) and often have construction projects to work on.
The habtechs end the night with a final systems check and then get some much needed rest to do it all again the next day.
James says his favorite part of living in Aquarius is getting to see all the cool underwater life around the habitat. Living underwater provides the opportunity to view marine life 24/7 – much better than if you were just doing a short dive from the surface.
This is Nate’s first mission as a habitat technician and here is what he has to say about it:
“It’s wonderful here. The days are long. but they fly by – unfortunately. Right now, we’re catching up on some improvements, so if we’re not putting in new swinging stools or feaux walls, we’re “busting rust” outside. This experience is more than I thought it would be. The hardest thing about being here is trying to stay focused when I’m out on hookah. I have to remember that this is my job, and to quit staring at the goliath groupers. Watching those guys “boom” when they eat and getting run over by a nurse shark have been awesome experiences. On the rebreathers, it’s a different experience, I’m sure, because the marine-life aren’t as suspicious, and you don’t have bubbles masking your hysterical laughter when you are taking all of this in.”
Thanks James and Nate, keep up the great work and have a good time down there!
2 Responses So Far
Tim | October 22nd, 2008
I am surprised that you use C02 absorbant in Aquarius. I would have expected that fresh air was constantly supplied by the surface support system. Please elaborate.
Craig Cooper | October 27th, 2008
Tim,
Unlike the closed circuit rebreathers (CCRs) that the habitat technicians are wearing while doing exterior habitat husbandry, Aquarius is an open circuit or ambient system during the mission, and we do supply a constant “bleed” of air through our atmospheric make-up panel. But the amount of air required to offset the Carbon Dioxide produced by the six aquanauts would be excessive, so similar to CCR operation, CO2 scrubbers are used to “flush” or absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere inside Aquarius. We have three habitat conditioning units (HCU) in Aquarius, each acting as heat exchanger/dehumidification systems, and each tied into CO2 absorbant cannisters to “scrub” air as it is cooled and dehumidified. Each unit, (two in the main lock, one in the entry lock)contain ~44 lbs of Soda Soda, each pound providing around 4 man hours of scrubbing, so we get ~3 1/2 days between changeouts. The CO2 level is monitored inside the habitat and at our shorebase Watch Desk, so Soda Sorb changeouts are planned long before CO2 levels approach limits above our acceptable levels. There are also three backup DC powered scrubbers in Aquarius, should loss of power cause failure of the primary HCUs. In such as case, the atmospheric bleed or ventilation would also be increased to handle the facilitation of CO2 removal.
Hopefully that answers your question Tim, and thanks for asking.
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