Even casual divers know that diving too deep, or surfacing too quickly, can cause a host of complications from sickness to seizures and even sudden death. Now the Pentagon’s scientists want to build gear that can turn commandos into Aquaman, allowing them to plunge into the deeps without having to worry as much about getting ill. (Orange and green tights sold separately.)
According to a list of research proposals from the U.S. military’s blue-sky researchers at Darpa, the agency is seeking “integrated microsystems” to detect and control “warfighter physiology for military diver operations.” Essentially it comes down to hooking divers up to sensors that can read both their bio-physical signs and the presence of gases like nitric oxide, which help prevent decompression sickness, commonly known as “the bends.” If those levels dip too low, the Darpa devices will send small amounts of the gases into divers’ lungs to help keep them swimming.
The agency doesn’t specify what exactly the machine will look like, as it’s still in the research stage, but the plan is to make it portable enough for a diver to carry, of course. Darpa also wants the gear for bomb-disposal units and “expanded special operations.”
For an understandable reason. Decompression sickness can be extremely painful, and potentially lethal to divers in both the civilian world and the military. When underwater, a diver breathing compressed air out of a tank normally absorbs the air into fatty body tissues instead of breathing it all out, which is normally safe. But ascending to the surface too fast after a deep dive can cause those gases to form into bubbles inside the body — imagine yourself as the equivalent of a soda bottle, shaken really fast. That causes the body’s nervous system to go haywire and the joints to freeze up as if they were paralyzed. And that’s in addition to oxygen toxicity, nitrogen narcosis and a nasty problem called high-pressure nervous syndrome. None of these things are very pleasant, let alone for those who make a career deactivating underwater mines.
To avoid these problems, Navy divers are trained in “breathing static gas mixtures at prescribed pressures and durations,” according to the Darpa solicitation, as well as training in practical measures to avoid them, like divers would normally do. But to go further, Darpa’s plan is to use sensors to read “pressure-related physiologic conditions” and provide “constant physiological feedback.”
Then, the system will administer small amounts of nitric oxide into the diver’s lungs, which may reduce the bubbles that cause the bends. To clear up any confusion, nitric oxide — which helps our cells communicate with each other – is a different chemical than nitrous oxide, which is popularly known as a dental anesthetic. Darpa has also experimented with nitric oxide to see if it can prevent hypoxia in aircraft pilots.
Darpa also wants the gear to include a tiny gas chromatograph, which is used to analyze the gases, and another tool called CMUTs, or “capacitive micro-machined ultrasonic transducer arrays.” Basically, handheld ultrasound probes used by doctors to monitor body organs. But Darpa hopes the CMUTs can detect when bubbles form inside the body.
Finally, the agency wants the system to be built tough, and protect a diver during an “extreme combat dive profile.” This means the gear will have to work with a diver while jumping out of an airplane at six miles up, free-falling to the ocean before deploying a parachute, and diving down to 200 feet below the surface. Once the diver is underwater, they’ll need to be able to stay down for at least two hours, then surface, and dive again, although at a higher depth and for shorter periods of time. Not only that, but the system will have to protect the diver after he or she is picked up in an “unpressurized aircraft” like a helicopter. The reason that’s important? Taking to the air after diving can lead to decompression sickness even if you were safe coming out of the water, since the diver’s body is now reacting to an environment with plunging air pressure.
But there are also some civilian applications, and Darpa wants the gear to work with “exploration and extraction of undersea oil, gas, and minerals.” So super-powered oil divers searching for resources — in addition to bomb-disposal experts and special operations troops? Alright then. But it’s not certain whether the Aquaman would approve, being an environmentalist and all.
Divers Could Become Real-Life Aquamen if This Pentagon Project Works
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Divers Could Become Real-Life Aquamen if This Pentagon Project Works
