Renowned aquanaut, ocean explorer and environmentalist Fabien Cousteau – grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau – is hoping a proposed underwater research station and habitat will address humanity’s most critical concerns.
A project of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center (FCOLC), PROTEUS™ has been conceived as an underwater version of the International Space Station. It will be a platform for global collaboration among researchers, academics, government agencies and corporations to advance science for the benefit of the planet.
“As our life support system, the ocean is indispensable to solving the planet’s biggest problems,” says Cousteau. “Challenges created by climate change, rising sea levels, extreme storms and viruses represent a multi-trillion-dollar risk to the global economy.”
Proposed as the largest and most technologically advanced underwater station ever built, PROTEUS™ will allow scientists and aquanauts the time to conduct continuous night and day diving and data collection. It will create a better understanding of how climate change affects the ocean and facilitate testing of advanced technologies for green power, aquaculture and robotic exploration.
Onsite labs will facilitate processing of organic samples that can be studied in real time, rather than the specimens rapidly degrading or dying during the arduous journey to the surface. On-premise experimentation results in an enhanced pipeline to support the development of new treatments for cancer, antibiotics, vaccines and much more.
The station will be located off Curaçao at a depth of 60 feet in richly biodiverse marine-protected water. It will also feature a full-scale video production facility to provide continuous live streaming for educational programming.
PROTEUS™’s strategic partners include Northeastern University, Rutgers University and CARMABI. The initial concept design has been co-conceived by renowned industrial designer Yves Béhar and his firm Fuseproject.
Founded in 2016, the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center’s mission is to raise awareness, educate, and empower the citizens of the world to protect and preserve the planet’s coastal areas, endangered marine habitats and marine life.