NEEMO15 - NASA underwater training

Listen to this article On 17 October, NASA will launch its 15th deep-sea mission at its Aquarius underwater laboratory, located near Key Largo, Florida. It will test equipment, and train procedures and techniques for exploring near-Earth asteroids. The mission, called NEEMO15 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations project), will last from 10 to 14 days and

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: May 17, 2011 - 09:41

Updated: February 9, 2023 - 10:38

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On 17 October, NASA will launch its 15th deep-sea mission at its Aquarius underwater laboratory, located near Key Largo, Florida. It will test equipment, and train procedures and techniques for exploring near-Earth asteroids.

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The mission, called NEEMO15 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations project), will last from 10 to 14 days and will be a summary of the previous 14 missions. The origins of the programme date back to 2001 and during its duration, the main focus was on training astronauts (the first 13 missions) and testing equipment and operational techniques for space activities (during NEEMO 14).

During the upcoming mission, NEEMO15 participants, referred to as ‘Aquanauts’, will spend up to 3 weeks in NASA’s underwater facility. The aim is to learn about human behaviour during space exploration as, in the Aquarius laboratory, conditions are very similar.

The laboratory itself, based in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, is a site primarily dedicated to studying coral reefs and conducting other marine research. It is located about 2km off the coastline at a depth of 20m. It is owned by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and run by scientists from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Prior to the October mission, a familiarisation with the equipment and its operation, as well as with the techniques used during the research and its concept, was carried out from 9-15 May. The main aspects NEEMO15 participants will be working on in October are anchoring on the planetoid, gravitational issues and navigating around its surface.

More photos can be found in our gallery – Neemo15

Source: www.nasa.gov

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.