00:00You have about $130 million. What would you do with it? Fly into space or buy an island?
00:07There are many ways you can spend this much money, but one anonymous investor used it to build an extravagant underwater city.
00:16The project is not finished yet, and a lot of people are currently working really hard to make this crazy idea come to life.
00:23If all goes well, in the near future, living under the sea may become a reality.
00:30In the past century, there was a limestone quarry near the Welsh border in England.
00:36In the 1990s, it became flooded and turned into a lake 260 feet deep.
00:42Now, there's a large construction project going on around it.
00:47Trucks, transport materials, and people in overalls construct huge modules that look like giant futuristic submarines.
00:54These modules are called sentinels, and they will become the buildings of a small underwater city.
01:01Builders and engineers create durable stainless steel materials that allow these houses to withstand a depth of up to 650 feet.
01:10This is the upper limit of the twilight zone, where very little sunlight penetrates.
01:16Large squid and other creatures live in this zone.
01:18Imagine waking up in an underwater hotel room and seeing a giant squid staring at you from the dark.
01:26Or even worse, you see a huge eye watching you as you wake up.
01:30This could happen if sentinels were successfully installed in the depths of the ocean.
01:35Meanwhile, let's return to our project on a small lake.
01:38The project is called DEEP.
01:42Its goal is to make life underwater as comfortable as possible.
01:46Inside living modules, builders install bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and observation windows.
01:52People will access them using small submarines.
01:55However, it's not as simple as calling a taxi.
01:57To live underwater, you need to train under the guidance of experienced instructors to test yourself in underwater life simulators.
02:06The cost of living there will likely be expensive, but it's worth it.
02:10At least you will be well fed.
02:12A chef will develop a special menu, and all food will be stored in vacuum-sealed bags to preserve its flavor and nutrients.
02:20It all sounds great, but there's a question.
02:23Who is financing this project?
02:26No one knows the answer.
02:28DEEP is funded by a secret investor who has already spent more than $100 million.
02:35Interestingly, this is not the first attempt to create an underwater dwelling.
02:39For example, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a famous diver-explorer, first created the Conchelph 1 underwater house in 1962.
02:47This was a steel cylinder located at a depth of 30 feet, where two divers lived for a week.
02:55In 1970, several women also spent 14 days underwater in the Caribbean Sea at a depth of 50 feet.
03:02The aim of that project was to study human psychology in a cramped environment, similar to that of a spaceship.
03:10Unsurprisingly, that project was partly funded by NASA.
03:13Okay, we have windows overlooking marine life, delicious food, underwater parties, and solitude away from civilization.
03:22All these things sound cool, but if we put aside the fun part for a moment, is there any real benefit to it?
03:30Oh yeah, ocean exploration.
03:32Many marine biologists believe that the best way to explore the ocean is from within.
03:37Diving doesn't help much, since divers are limited by time and body needs.
03:42They can stay underwater for only about an hour and a half at a time.
03:46Underwater cities could allow us to live underwater for months.
03:50But the most important thing is long-term observation of marine life in its natural habitat.
03:54In the mid-1990s, a group of researchers wanted to study the development and nutrition of corals.
04:02They brought them to the lab for testing, and found out that corals reacted differently to tests in artificial environments than in the ocean.
04:10Their behavior in a laboratory setting was different from their behavior in the wild.
04:16Underwater cities could also provide work for archaeologists, who study the remains of ships that have sunk throughout history.
04:22Plus, such cities could help protect us from future disasters.
04:28In the event of a catastrophe like an earthquake, tsunami, or volcanic eruption, scientists and engineers could build water-based shelters,
04:36like the Subbiosphere 2 project, to provide refuge for people.
04:41These circular structures could sink into the ocean and give shelter for up to 50 or 100 people,
04:47allowing them to wait out the disaster from a safe distance.
04:50Underwater cities could be an excellent solution to overpopulation, but there are some downsides.
04:57We already pollute the world's oceans, and what if we literally lived inside them?
05:02It's one thing to use labs to study marine life, but it's another to build hotels for vacationers.
05:09One such hotel, called the Water Discus, is a building at a depth of no more than 32 feet.
05:15It will have 21 rooms and a restaurant with coral reef views.
05:20While the conditions seem comfortable, some experts worry that staying there for long periods could be harmful because of the lack of sunlight.
05:28Nevertheless, it would be interesting to stay there for a week and see how it feels.
05:32The most challenging aspect of creating such laboratories, hotels, and bunkers is ensuring a reliable life support and safety system.
05:42It's crucial that the air, humidity, and temperature be as comfortable as possible for people to live in these structures.
05:49However, this requires a significant amount of energy.
05:52Currently, all modern underwater buildings rely on external sources of energy located on the surface.
05:59But scientists plan to make future underwater projects fully autonomous, using kinetic energy from waves and powerful solar panels to generate power.
06:08It's also important to create the right structure for these buildings.
06:12Rather than covering an underwater city with a giant bubble, it's more efficient to create several large housing modules.
06:18Each module should consist of steel, glass, and special cement.
06:23Also, the depth shouldn't exceed 1,000 feet, since a deeper location would require thicker walls because of high water pressure.
06:32To load and move these residential modules safely, engineers can use ballast tanks.
06:37These are large containers filled with water, which are used to pull the modules down deep into the ocean.
06:43Once in place, engineers can release the water from the tanks and fill them with air, causing the house to float back to the surface.
06:52And what about fresh air?
06:54Fish extract oxygen from the water using their gills, but this method is obviously not suitable for humans.
07:01Therefore, we need to deliver air from the surface.
07:03It can be piped into the city and mixed with a special substance called sodasorb, which reacts with carbon dioxide and removes it.
07:13It would be great if we could generate oxygen inside our underwater cities rather than relying on other sources.
07:20This would require farms and plants that can produce oxygen through photosynthesis.
07:24But instead of sunlight, these plants would use artificial light.
07:30If we talk about complete autonomy, people could get food from the water at any moment.
07:35Put on scuba gear, a mask, and an oxygen tank, and leave the hotel through an airlock.
07:41Use harpoons and fishing nets to catch dinner.
07:44Remember to check your oxygen reserves and don't swim for too long.
07:48Frying fish in a pan won't work because of strong odors.
07:51In an underwater dwelling, air is static like in an airplane cabin, so odors become stronger.
07:58Maybe in the future, engineers will create a dedicated cooking area, but for now, you'll have to rely on canned and dehydrated food.
08:07If you get bored, go for an underwater walk.
08:10Instead of carrying oxygen tanks, use hollow tubes connecting your mask to an air source inside your home.
08:16But don't forget that you can't go too far because the length of the tube is limited.
08:21Air, food, safe construction.
08:24What else?
08:25Drinking water.
08:27In the future, scientists may create filters in these hotels that desalinate salt water.
08:32This water can be extracted from the condensation inside the hotel, as well as from human secretions.
08:39Don't be surprised.
08:40Astronauts, for example, have been using special technology to filter their liquids and turn them into drinking water for a long time.
08:47Astronauts, for example, have been using special technology to Beispiel.
08:52This is a design application that you've made of
08:56and of the illegal justice system that you've ever been using.
09:00That's a very full touchscreen protection system.
09:02Plan out in the future, it i have never changed to the one more.
09:04You can say that the storage will be using similar notation as well.
09:06You can click the баг history of this project, we will open different areas here.
09:09You can click the searched route in somewhere between magic and light.
09:11There are now two significant options that might change across the whole world.
Comments