Habitability in an Underwater Habitat – An Analog for International Space Station

Aquarius is an undersea research laboratory and was identified as a potential analog for space flight and long duration space habitation. In order to assess the feasibility of the Aquarius as an analog for operational and habitability research, a series of underwater missions were conducted as a collaborative effort between NASA and the National Undersea Research Center (NURC). As part of these missions, a series of habitability and human factors assessments were conducted to identify habitability issues, and assess its effectiveness as an analog environment for human factors and habitability research. Overall, Aquarius was an acceptable habitat and found to be a promising analog for long duration space flights.