Because of lack of facilities for equipment 
evaluation and calibration a coordinated program 
should be established immediately whereby cali- 
bration services and development of essential 
standards and specifications can be made available 
to all users on a cost-reimbursement basis. 
To permit standardized development, fabrica- 
tion, and calibration of ocean instruments and 
sensors, studies should be undertaken to determine 
realistic accuracy requirements. 
B. Power Sources 
This nation must develop better undersea 
power sources. When submersibles with adequate 
endurance are developed, they need only submerge 
and surface in the sheltered waters of a harbor. 
This will provide great cost reduction for future 
submersible operations—the elimination of surface 
support. 
Within the foreseeable future undersea vehicles 
and habitats will be limited to the utilization of 
presently known and identified prime energy 
sources including (1) nuclear energy systems which 
require only occasional maintenance and refueling, 
(2) chemical energy systems replenished by sup- 
port ships, and (3) ship- or shore-generated electri- 
cal energy transmitted by cable. 
A portable undersea support laboratory at a 
depth of 2,000 feet and the continental slope or 
midocean ridge station at 8,000 feet with crews of 
15 to 25 and possibly 100 to 1,000 will require 
large amounts of energy, many thousands of 
kilowatts. When the laboratory is relatively near 
land, the energy can be generated best on shore 
and transmitted to the habitat through cables. 
For remote locations a self-contained undersea 
power system probably will be required. Submers- 
ible vehicles and underwater construction machin- 
ery will incorporate nuclear power systems or 
refuelable or rechargable chemical energy plants, 
because electrical cables impose serious entangle- 
ment and vulnerability hazards. 
Extensive work in the space program on the 
SNAP 2, SNAP 10, and SNAP 8 power systems 
(Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power developed for 2, 
500, and 30,000 watts) may find application in the 
undersea frontier. Reactors and conversion sys- 
tems that meet the initial power requirements of 
anticipated fixed bottom habitats and future deep 
submergence vehicles have been developed for 
333-091 O-69—7 
outer space. Considerable expenditures will be 
required, however, to redesign these systems for 
manned undersea applications. 
Divers usually will be able to obtain electrical 
energy through umbilical cords. But  free- 
swimming saturated divers working appreciable 
distances from base will need reliable, high capa- 
city, portable energy packages. Power demands for 
tethered operations may extend upward to the 
multikilowatt range to fulfill life support, illumina- 
tion, work, environmental protection (especially 
suit heat), and other demands. 
1. Chemical Batteries 
a. Current Situation Deep submersibles have 
used lead-acid batteries as a primary energy source 
because of their low cost, established reliability, 
and adaptability to submerged operation. Silver- 
zinc batteries have been used in a few applications 
where improved performance was mandatory and 
increased cost acceptable. Bottom installations 
such as Sealab have relied on power generated on 
support ships or ashore. 
Small vehicles with limited mission require- 
ments employ batteries because of their relatively 
low cost, although payload is reduced by battery 
weight. Because neutral buoyancy must be main- 
tained, the low overall energy availability per 
pound of battery system limits greatly the endur- 
ance of most vehicles. Weight-to-energy ratios 
range from 75 to 125 and 25 to 40 pounds per 
kilowatt hour for installed lead-acid and silver-zinc 
batteries, respectively. 
b. Future Needs Use of new battery reactants 
such as fluorine may offer a two-to-three-fold 
improvement in weight-to-energy ratios, but the 
projected costs of such developments are high. 
Further, the weight-to-energy ratios will be chal- 
lenged seriously by improved fuel cells and ther- 
mal conversion systems. Battery development 
should concentrate on adapting to undersea use 
such other known high energy systems as 
mercury-zine or nickel-cadmium. 
Methods of recharging submersible battery 
systems at ambient pressure in the deep ocean 
would enable battery powered submersibles to 
achieve greatly enhanced endurance. Such tech- 
niques would allow the battery powered submers- 
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