Fabien Cousteau, an ocean explorer, has announced plans to build a large research station under the ocean. The goal of the project is to become an “underwater version of the International Space Station (ISS)”.

Mr. Cousteau is the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, an ocean scientist who brought the wonders of the sea to the attention of people around the world. Fabien Cousteau has gone the same way, exploring the sea as a scientist and working to protect the oceans.

Though the ocean is all around us, studying it is a challenge. Divers are limited in how far down they can go and how long they can stay below. Returning to the surface can be dangerous. After a deep dive, divers must wait for hours before they dive again.

The new undersea laboratory is designed to solve many of those problems. Named “Proteus” the lab is a 370-square-meter structure that can be a home for up to 12 people at a time. By actually living under the sea, scientists will be able to dive and work for much longer without worrying about the dangers of coming to the surface.

Mr. Cousteau says that the research base won’t just be used to study and help protect the sea, but also to research new ways of creating energy and perhaps even searching for new medicines.

The power for the station is expected to come from solar energy and the movement of the ocean. Proteus is also expected to have the first underwater greenhouse in the world, so that the lab will be able to grow some of its own food.

Proteus was designed by Yves Behar, a well-known designer. Mr. Cousteau and Mr. Behar are working together to raise money to build Proteus. They say it’ll cost about $135 million. Plans call for Proteus to be built on the sea floor 18 meters below the ocean’s surface off the island of Curacao in the Caribbean Sea. Mr. Cousteau hopes to have the lab completed and ready to use by 2025.

China welcomed three heroic astronauts home on April 16. The re-entry module (返回舱) carrying Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu touched down safely at the designated Dongfeng Landing Site in Inner Mongolia autonomous region. This ended the Shenzhou XIII astronauts’ six-month space mission.

This return marks a major breakthrough for China’s efforts in space. Let’s look at some of the technical details of the mission.

Speed record

The mission set a new speed record. The Shenzhou XII return capsule revolved around the Earth 11 times over 24 hours, before returning on Sept 17, 2021. This time Shenzhou XIII shortened the time to about 9 hours, orbiting the Earth five times.

The Shenzhou XIII mission was simplified to only five orbits and was designed to return more efficiently, according to the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

This approach required more precise control of the spacecraft and more accurate orbital calculations. This meant that when the spacecraft separated, it could quickly target the landing area, calculate the return path, and adjust its altitude, Wang Ya’nan, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times.

“Having the ability to adopt such a fast return method indicates that China’s return technology for manned missions is very mature and reliable,” Wang added.

Temperature control

Another challenge for astronauts returning to Earth is traveling through the atmosphere. After the re-entry capsule enters the atmosphere, there is fierce friction with the air. The surface temperature of the capsule can reach thousands of degrees.

To solve this problem, the researchers designed a heat-resistant coating on the surface of the Shenzhou XIII return capsule. They also laid a layer of ablative material (烧蚀材料) that sublimated (升华) and fell off when the temperature reached a certain level, taking a lot of heat with it, according to People’s Daily Online.

Landing

Landing upright is the ideal way to land, ensuring astronauts have the softest landing, Pang Zhihao, a spaceflight researcher in Beijing, told Science and Technology Daily.

Inspired by the medical bay of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek (星际迷航), a research team from the University of Waterloo uses radar technology to monitor people’s health while at the wheel, turning an ordinary car or truck into a mobile medical center.

Dr. George Shaker, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, is working with a team of graduate students to combine radar with evolving vehicle technology to make health checks easier. The idea is to use the time people spend in their cars to gather data on their health for accurate analysis and preventative treatment — without the need for any type of wearable.

The radar, smaller than a USB thumb drive, is placed into the vehicle cabin and sends out signals that detect human vibrations (颤动), which are then sent back to the radar. The built-in AI system collects and analyzes the data to build a medical picture and identify any potential conditions. At the end of the driver’s journey, the system sends the report directly to their cellphone for review.

For Shaker and his team, the challenge was evolving the tech to identify changes in breathing patterns or heart rhythms that signify potential health issues related to cardiovascular conditions as well as respiratory system conditions.

“We focused on enhancing data collection for exact information related to people’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems and teaching the AI how to make medical interpretations from this data. Another important consideration was personal privacy and security — no data is stored on the cloud; it is sent to the monitored person’s cellphone only,” said Ali Ghara, the lead Ph. D. student on the project.

The research team is building on this work to expand the radar technology’s capabilities to monitor all vehicle occupants’ overall health and well-being, run diagnostics and generate quality medical reports that flag any issues that need attention, as well as assist with emergency communication in the event of an accident.