Mission Aquarius

FIU’s Aquarius Reef Base team has been hard at work in recent months, preparing the underwater research lab for its first mission since FIU assumed operations. During the afternoon of Aug. 20, the team parked their boat next to Aquarius’ life support buoy and sent divers down to work on the communications system. The buoy, seen above, includes a communications tower and more than 70-square-meters of inside work space. It is linked to Aquarius by a three-inch diameter umbilical, which contains hoses that supply air from the compressors and oxygen from storage flasks, power lines from the generators, and cables and wires for data and communications.