Tektite I was intended to establish guidance for future submerged labora- 

 tory projects. It established baselines for prolonged exposure at 50 feet for 

 2 months and set the stage for deeper dives of longer duration. Plans have 

 been announced for a follow-on project, Tektite II, in the spring of 1970. 

 Led by the Department of the Interior, a number of Federal agencies, 

 universities, and the Government of the Virgin Islands will take part in the 

 project. In this experiment the Tektite habitat will be resubmerged at 

 the same depth and location for 7 months. During this period approximately 

 62 marine scientists and engineers, including some from other countries, will 

 work in small teams for 2- to 4-week periods underwater. Direct costs of 

 Tektite II for fiscal years 1970 and 1971 are estimated at $1.1 million. 



Tektite II experiments will be conducted at greater depths and for longer 

 durations than its predecessor project. The Tektite habitat will be augmented 

 by a smaller, two-man dwelling anchored nearby at a depth of 100 feet. 



Solving Crucial Problems 



The problems of living and working beneath the ocean's surface are 

 formidable; they are primarily the biomedical problems related to survival 

 and technological problems associated with the design and operation of 

 facilities for working underwater. 



The biomedical problems stem directly from the wet, cold, dark and high 

 pressure environment. The severe and potentially disabling or lethal physio- 

 logical changes which occur during diving have prompted the search for 

 practical solutions and are the stimulus for much of the basic research. Per- 

 haps the most significant of these problems today is decompression sickness, 

 caused by the release of gas from the tissues, in which gas has dissolved at 

 the hyperbaric pressure of the dive. This release happens if ascent occurs 

 more quickly than the rates at which gas will leave all body tissues and 

 remain in solution. Practically, the decompression time of many days re- 

 quired for dives to 1,000 feet severely limits the economic value of diving to 

 such depths. 



Other severe diving problems are oxygen toxicity, carbon dioxide buildup 

 in the lungs, inert gas narcosis and work limitation caused by increased gas 

 density. Cold water chilling may be severe. Visibility and orientation may be 

 poor in murky water. Speech becomes unintelligible when divers breathe 

 helium /oxygen gas mixtures at high pressure. Failures of equipment or other 

 emergencies can be fatal. Long-term problems relate to composition and 

 palatability of food, psychological effects during isolation, and crowding in 

 small spaces. 



Conducting Needed Research 



Current knowledge and research in many of these areas is still limited. 

 In the past 3 or 4 years, there has been a more rapid growth in the study of 

 underwater physiology and medicine and of man-in-the-sea development as 

 a whole. Most of the support and effort in this field has come and continues 

 to come from the Navy. In addition to the Navy's program, focal points of 



110 



