No Modern Marine Habitat. Why should we care?
Underwater habitats are not a new concept. Since the 1960s there have been more than 18 marine stations built and used as both research labs and habitats. Fabien’s grandfather, Jacques Yves Cousteau, saw the need 60 years ago, it is why he built Conshelf I, II and III, to allow for more time for exploration and research at depth in the Ocean.
Fabien Cousteau, a 3rd generation aquanaut and Ocean explorer, has been scuba diving from the age of 4 and has been on countless expeditions since the age of 7. “The Ocean is his been my classroom growing up” said Fabien Cousteau. “Throughout my lifetime one of the biggest challenges has been the lack of accessibility and the limit of time at the bottom of the ocean. While I have had the privilege of being on thousands of dives, it was not until I led my team on Mission 31, that I truly understood the impact that living and working in the Ocean can have on the world. After that expedition, it became crystal clear to me that I needed to build the next state-of-the-art research observatory habitat.”
The problem we are faced with TODAY is that there is NO MODERN, stationery marine observatory and habitat to conduct time intensive research.
PROTEUS™ provides the solution.
PROTEUS™ the international space station of the Ocean, provides a solution. Proteus will take the lessons of the past to create the next, natural evolutionary fin step in ocean research exploration and observation. Proteus will give us the opportunity to live and work in our Ocean in a way we have never been able to before.
The Ocean research conducted on Proteus will be able to significantly contribute not only to accelerating R&D, but also new industries, renewables, food sources, medical and pharmaceutical, biomechanics, and other critical discoveries.
One of the other problems today is that data is a giant mess. Ocean data is hard to collect, verify, calibrate, and share. There is no modern network that gathers, analyzes and commercializes data about our Ocean. In preparation for Mission31, as Mission Director Fabien had a lot of data to gather and organize. It was very challenging because even basic information needed to plan the mission was impossible to find.
Many of the academic, government and research entities Proteus is collaborating with share this frustration. We know and as Peter Drucker is credited saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” As we bring our partners into the Proteus ecosystem, we will create the PROTEUS™ Network. We see Proteus as the central hub of this network with the PROTEUS™ Dashboard communicating real time data to our partners.
Proteus is a solution that will facilitate in situ research, leading to significant data collection that can easily be tested and shared using our ecosystem and the Proteus global collaborative network. The rich ocean-related content gathered that will not only inform and delight but offer wide access to critical Ocean data while raising awareness within the global Ocean community. Most importantly, the content and communication garnered from Proteus will help us to make informed and responsible decisions regarding Ocean resources, sustainability and future generations.
Proteus is operationalized and run by Proteus Ocean Group, Ltd. (POG), a private sector social enterprise, a sustainable for-profit business that will scale and have global impact. POG manages the coordination of and partnerships with strategic collaborators such as Northeastern, Rutgers, Gov’t bodies (Curacao), quasi-governmental bodies (CARMABI) and private sector partners. Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center (a 501(c)(3)) (FCOLC) is a major stakeholder in POG and leads the educational programming.
For information, please contact Lisa Marrocchino, CEO, Proteus Ocean Group, Ltd. at lisam@proteusoceangroup.com
