WE RUN LEADING-EDGE BEHAVIOURAL RESEARCH TO FURTHER HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION.
Underwater. In a cave. 90 meters below surface.​​
PEAK-FIDELITY ANALOGUE
Future missions in deep space will pose significant behavioural health challenges to astronauts. Growing evidence suggests that liquid water may still exist underground on Mars. Future explorers of the Red Planet are far likelier to live underground, than on the surface of Mars.
Ground research in analogue environments offers cost-effective means to address these challenges. However, low- or mid-fidelity space analogues do not simulate current or future space exploration missions with satisfactory realism. Consequently the physical and behavioural health data obtained from such simulations has compromised validity and cannot be reliably translated into space exploration. Instead, the challenges of future space scenarios should be studied in high-fidelity analogues.
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Aquanauta is the world's very first peak-fidelity analogue, where expert technical divers serve as analogue astronauts in the real-life contexts of cave diving, wet cave exploration and camping. In our extreme environment analogues, aquanauts mitigate risks through expertise and carry out exploration and research activity with optimal performance. ​In our analogue missions, the expert team of divers live isolated in an underground station/campsite that is connected to an extensive network of natural submerged caves.
We have been developing and organising similar missions to understand how to live and perform in such adverse contexts resiliently and sustainably since 2018. Our efforts were previously supported by the European Space Agency's Business Incubation Center between 2019-21.
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By exploring the unknown, we intend to expand our knowledge about ourselves, our world, and beyond.​​​​​​
INNOVATION HUB
Humansys Center for Exploration (Humansys CE) is a research network and innovation hub. Humansys CE facilitates exploration in extreme environments, such as underground and underwater, and their various combinations to optimise behavioural health and human factors research in these environments and translate the findings to human space exploration with high validity. Humansys CE works with the intention to (1) implement the leading-edge forms of behavioural science into the existing efforts of behavioural health and performance trainings and research.; (2) examine the critical human factors needed for the successful activity in extreme environments and analogue; (3) improve analogue fidelity within the sector; (4) help our colleagues to develop ​equipment, protocols, solutions and technologies integral in these extreme and unusual environments.​ In other words, we design systems in which humans can perform to the best of their abilities in the presence of continuous extreme challenges.
Long-duration space flight or operating a sustainable colony are both dependent on human factors. As of now, the industry has not offered enough attention to issues arising from the human factor. These include,
Medicine
Psychology
Physiology
Extreme environments
Language and communication
Health and productivity
Human and system engineering
Training and development
Critical operation
Biomarkers
We predominantly focus on developing technological solutions that aid humans to explore, work and live in space and underwater. These include, for example:
Hydro science
Geology, seismology, spelology
Mining
Robotics and artificial intelligence
Habitat development and architecture
Diving
Sustainability, energy, agriculture
Biochemistry
Waste management
Information processing in remote locations
GLOBAL IMPACT
Conceptualisation of the peak-fidelity analogue began in 2018, and Aquanauta was established in 2019.
The project has been supported byt the Euuropean Space Agency Business Incubation Center between 2018-21.
We have published 6 scientific conference posters and one peer-reviewed paper in the subject.
Carried out cave diving and wet-cave camping missions in large cave systems.
Work and advised by renowned expert cave divers
Extensive research network in Europe
6 years of activity
GET INVOLVED
Join us to become part of our research network, innovation hub, or to become formally trained as one of our aquanauts serving as analogue astronauts in our missions along with world renowned expert technical divers.
If you have a particular research idea in mind, or you are a research institute, company, or field expert believing we could further extreme environments exploration, we would like to hear from you.