Biosub

BioSUB was an underwater station of the Australian marine biologist Lloyd Godson, where he lived for twelve days under the water surface of a lake near Albury in southern New South Wales / Australia in April 2007 . The focus of the project was on achieving the highest possible level of self-sufficiency.

The small habitat consisted of a rectangular container with the dimensions of about 2 × 3 m and a volume of 20 m³. It was just big enough to house a bed, a small bioreactor, an exercise bike, and a toilet. It weighed 2 t and was anchored to the bottom of the lake with 28 t of concrete. Access was at the bottom.

Lloyd Godson intended with the project to get school children excited about science. For this purpose an intercom line was set up through which visitors could contact him live.

financing

In 2005, Lloyd Godson won the Australian Geographic Magazine's Wildest Adventure Competition with the proposal to live at least ten days in his BioSUB habitat . He used the prize money of $ 50,000 (AU) to implement the project in 2007.

Bioreactor Biocoil

Lloyd Godson resorted to a project at Cascade High School in Idaho / USA, which had built a bioreactor called Biocoil (English for bio-coil ) for the treatment of wastewater. Air is pumped through a coil made of transparent plastic hoses in which Chlorella algae are cultivated. In the center of this coil there are lamps that provide the light necessary for the algae to grow. Biocoil had the following functions:

• The algae should filter the toxic carbon dioxide from the air.
• By converting carbon dioxide into oxygen , the system was able to produce 10% of the oxygen it needs. The further supply of fresh air took place via two compressors on the surface and on the bank.
• Although chlorella algae are edible and would have served Lloyd Godson to at least symbolically produce his own food, he preferred to have food delivered from the surface.
• The reuse of urine that was fed into the Biocoil system should also be tested.

energy

Lloyd Godson produced the energy required to operate the bioreactor and various electronics such as his laptop with the help of an exercise bike. However, he had a photovoltaic system and methane fuel cells to help.

Documented problems

• The humidity within the habitat was 100% as expected, so that at a constant temperature of 21.5 ° C, clothes did not dry and water dripped from the ceiling and walls.
• Since the biocoil system did not filter enough carbon dioxide from the air, the carbon dioxide level in the habitat rose rapidly. This resulted in long periods of sleep and increased blood pressure.
• Due to the strict isolation and adverse circumstances, Godson's mood sank significantly until he himself questioned the sense of the project. However, with the achievement of the official goal of ten days, his mood improved. On the eleventh day, signs of psychological stress such as paranoia began to appear . On the twelfth day he suffered from dizziness in addition to high blood pressure and bowed to the recommendations of the medical professionals to cancel the project. Although he himself set a goal of thirteen days, the sum total of physiological and psychological problems resulted in the early termination of the project on the twelfth day. However, it is not clear what caused the problems. Possible reasons are the composition of the breathing gas, strict isolation or general stress.

Follow-up project in Legoland Günzburg

The follow-up project in Legoland Günzburg lasted 14 days between March 30th and April 13th 2010. This time the habitat was 4 m² in size and was located in a local aquarium. This time it did not have the bioreactor, but drew the breathing gas from the surface of the water.

The project was closely observed by doctors of the Divers Alert Network (DAN) , in particular the possible thickening of the blood by the dehumidified compressor air and its physiological effects, as well as the increased production of erythropoietin due to a possible decrease in the oxygen level in the habitat. However, no health impairment occurred during the experiment.

During the project, as in the BioSUB project, Lloyd Godson generated 2502 watt hours of electricity in 336 hours with an exercise bike . This corresponds to a distance of 625 km. This achievement earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of Records .

The carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the habitat were monitored by a Dräger X-am 7000 multi-gas detector.

The project was mentioned in the documentation Naked Science: City Under The Sea by the National Geographic Channel and received the silver medal of the German Econ Awards in the PR activity category based on the following data:

• 100,000 people visited the experiment directly, watched the webcam broadcast or participated in it via social media.
• 101,766,976 viewers via print media, radio, internet or television

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fred Koschmann: Popular Science: The Aquanaut's Home Under the Sea. August 13, 2007, accessed November 1, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Kathy Riley: Australian Geographic: Underwater man lives his dream. (No longer available online.) June 15, 2009, archived from the original on November 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 3, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ The Advanced Biology Class at Cascade High School: The Biocoil Project - 1996-97. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 15, 2011 ; accessed on November 1, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ^{a b} Stephen Pincock: The Scientist: An Underwater Life. July 1, 2007, accessed November 1, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Dialika Krahe: The Aquanaut: How a researcher became an underwater man. Der Spiegel, April 30, 2007, accessed November 3, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Lloyd Godson: BioSUB. Retrieved November 1, 2016 . 
7. ↑ DAN Europe, Alert Diver, Digital Magazine (ed.): DAN Europe underwater in LEGOLAND Germany . No. 1 , 2010, p. 7 .
8. ↑ Chrissie Goldrick: Australian Geographic: Submarine be Enters record books again. (No longer available online.) April 23, 2010, archived from the original on November 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 3, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Guinness World Records: Most electrical energy generated by pedaling underwater. Retrieved November 3, 2016 . 
10. ^ Werner Bauer: Dräger Review: Fourteen Days Beneath the Surface . Ed .: Dräger. No. 101 , November 2010, p. 20-21 .
11. ↑ Lloyd Godson: Press: LEGOLAND® ATLANTIS by SEA LIFE. Retrieved November 3, 2016 .