212 



down and this device was lowered down and we wrestled it into the 

 habitat and made our dry transfers. 



It is rather primitive but it worked very well. 



This is the decompression complex that was standing by throughout 

 the 60 days in the event there had been an emergency and anyone 

 required emergency decompression. This did not happen so fortunately 

 we only had to spend 20 hours, the four of us, in that blue cylinder 

 there and that was quite long enough. 



Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, that concludes the 

 slide presentation, and if you or members of the committee have any 

 questions for any of us we will be delighted to try to answer them. 



Mr. Lennon. Thank you very much, sir. 



Someone has suggested the question, where did the name Tektite 

 come from ? What is its origin ? To what is it related ? 



Mr. Waller. Yes, sir. 



I think our geologist had better answer that. 



Dr. Clifton. Tektites are small pieces of mineral matter that ap- 

 parently are derived from space, fall into our atmosphere and are 

 trapped and are found on the ocean floor. 



The name was chosen because it reflected the interest of the space 

 agency as well as the interest of the ocean agencies. 



Mr, Lennon. That answers the query that was in our minds as to 

 where you got this name. 



What is the possibility about the utilization of this underwater 

 habitat in the future ? It is to be related, of course, to depth, I suppose. 

 Does it have any potential use for the future in the same depth ? 



Mr. Waller. I would like to answer that, Mr. Chairman. 



We are all agreed that the Tektite habitat could have been left in 

 the same depth at the very same location and I am not able to predict 

 with a great deal of certainty just how many years that productive 

 marine research work could have been done but I am sure that it is 

 more than 2 if it had been allowed to remain in the same spot and have 

 a continuing team of marine scientists come down and do specific 

 projects. 



Possibly no one scientist might have required 60 days because in 

 order to get a marine scientist down in the environment in direct con- 

 tact with these animals that he is working with in some events it would 

 only require 2 or 3 days, maybe, and it might be worth years of in- 

 ference that he might have been laboring under. That is just in the 

 Lameshur Bay spot. 



I think that a habit in almost any shallow water area while these 

 deeper techniques are developing could pay off handsomely for the 

 marine science program at this point. 



Mr. Lennon. Could this particular one be used in some other area 

 where the temperature of your water was considerably different from 

 what you had there ? 



Mr. Waller. Yes, sir. It certainly could. 



To operate the habitat in a colder water area right now probably 

 would require removing the refrigeration system and putting in a 

 heater plant. 



Mr. Lennon. I am thinking in terms of the distinguished member 

 from the State of Washington. 



