What if we wanted to colonize the sea?

This is kind of a strange idea, but what if we wanted to put populations on the sea floor? We would have to probably start with shallow waters, just offshore, and then work our way to deeper and deeper facilities. What I am looking for here is basically the same things as for LEO, so power stations, factories, construction facilities, and marine "farms", weather this be for food or fuel production.

Would a "Sea Program" be possible and profitable right now? How about in 10 years? 20 years?

Also, what possible benefits could be applicable to our "Space Program", what with duration stays in an otherwise hostile environment?

Any thoughts?
 
in 1960s and early 1970s they look into it, either as Military, Scientific or Industrial use.

General Electric study a manned underwater base that operate in 4000 meter dept, that's 13123 ft.
but that all has very high cost similar to that of Apollo program
It's even Analog to Apollo that Soviet union not "expand" into the ocean other wise the USA (under Nixon) would have stay in "underwater Race"

France had Similar Ambition with Jaques Cousteau but as Pro technological President Georges Pompidou died
dies also Ambition underwater plans as New Conservative President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing consider those projects "To Big for little France"
 
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I wonder why 4 km was their target depth?

I am wondering what we could do now with wave generators covering a square mile of ocean surface, or tide generators up and down the coasts.
 
Well, when sea levels rise people living on coast will have three options:
-move
-adapt cities to underwater conditions
-develop gills
 

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Or build seawalls like we've done for thousands of years. A meter isn't that big a deal for a city.
 
Build a city below sea level they said. It will be fine they said. ;)

6550504_G.jpg
 
I've wondered if a 'sea colony' wouldn't need a lot of electrical power... along with the normal lights and appliances to run, they'd need to run oxygen scrubbers, desalinizing water, hydroponic lights for whatever they grow, etc. A nuclear power plant seems like the best option, but any of the current models would be problematic under the ocean. So, I wonder if 'sea colonies' might not to wait until we develop fusion technology...
 
I've wondered if a 'sea colony' wouldn't need a lot of electrical power... along with the normal lights and appliances to run, they'd need to run oxygen scrubbers, desalinizing water, hydroponic lights for whatever they grow, etc. A nuclear power plant seems like the best option, but any of the current models would be problematic under the ocean. So, I wonder if 'sea colonies' might not to wait until we develop fusion technology...

Don't forget heating. I've heard that keeping warm is a huge problem deep underwater.

Not sure why any of the current models would be problematic - we use them in submarines, after all.
 
Don't forget heating. I've heard that keeping warm is a huge problem deep underwater.

Not sure why any of the current models would be problematic - we use them in submarines, after all.

changing fuel rods, disposing of nuclear waste... seems like it would be a problem with a 'sea colony' permanently tied to the ocean floor. Submarines can go back to port...
 
changing fuel rods, disposing of nuclear waste... seems like it would be a problem with a 'sea colony' permanently tied to the ocean floor. Submarines can go back to port...

I think that would be a relatively small issue compared to all the other problems of living deep underwater. For a small base, you could either use a mini-reactor like the Army Nuclear Power Program built, or, if that's not enough, a "podded" reactor that could be unplugged and towed back to shore when needed. For a true city, you'd need to have already solved the problem of working with heavy industrial equipment deep underwater, so refueling shouldn't be a serious problem.

Another option, which I've heard mentioned but know very little about: OTECs. Exploit the thermal gradient between the deep layers of the ocean and the surface for electricity. I dunno if it's actually practical, but I've heard it kicked around.
 
The potential environmental impacts of large scale permanent human occupation of the sea, either on the sea floor or in floating island colonies, could be massive and unpredictable. Barring a tremendous change in national and global priorities, I think the likelihood of this happening is slight, and the costs to mitigate impacts to oceanic temperatures, micro currents, flora and fauna would be excessive. The entire ocean (all of them) is a single system and large scale human occupation and more intensive exploitation of the system would need to be studied.
 
I've wondered if a 'sea colony' wouldn't need a lot of electrical power... along with the normal lights and appliances to run, they'd need to run oxygen scrubbers, desalinizing water, hydroponic lights for whatever they grow, etc. A nuclear power plant seems like the best option, but any of the current models would be problematic under the ocean. So, I wonder if 'sea colonies' might not to wait until we develop fusion technology...

Easy to solve with gravity, you have limitless water bearing down on your sea city, just have a little trickle through all the time and spin the turbine. Gravity does all the work. Power would be the least of your concerns.

A much bigger one would be an accidental rupture in your dome (assuming you have a dome) that kills everyone in a few short minutes.
 
There's been a certain amount of work done looking at floating colonies. You'd get plentiful solar and fewer pressure problems. For some reason a ton of the interest in this has been from libertarian aligned groups, which can seem somewhat odd if you have any experience keeping a large boat afloat, but the ideas are certainly out there.
 
There's been a certain amount of work done looking at floating colonies. You'd get plentiful solar and fewer pressure problems. For some reason a ton of the interest in this has been from libertarian aligned groups, which can seem somewhat odd if you have any experience keeping a large boat afloat, but the ideas are certainly out there.

An example of that sort of group is

Seasteading Institute

Please note I do not recommend investing with these people, I think they are borderline nuts but they are an example of the kind of thinking out there...with emphasis on the out there...."Hey everyone let's pay the same price as real estate in London or New York to go live in some crappy third world country" erm yes.
 

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I've wondered if a 'sea colony' wouldn't need a lot of electrical power... along with the normal lights and appliances to run, they'd need to run oxygen scrubbers, desalinizing water, hydroponic lights for whatever they grow, etc. A nuclear power plant seems like the best option, but any of the current models would be problematic under the ocean. So, I wonder if 'sea colonies' might not to wait until we develop fusion technology...

The city could harness the energy and mineral resources of sea vents. Due to the pressure, the water that comes out of them is already supercritical, so there wouldn't be any need for nuclear heat. Methane calathrate could be an option for powering vehicles.
 
You could do it with stilt housing:
640px-Philippinen_basilan_seezigeuner_ph04p69.jpg

But that does work better on rivers and lakes, because, you know, the sea can get some bad weather.
 

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Easy to solve with gravity, you have limitless water bearing down on your sea city, just have a little trickle through all the time and spin the turbine. Gravity does all the work. Power would be the least of your concerns.

A much bigger one would be an accidental rupture in your dome (assuming you have a dome) that kills everyone in a few short minutes.

That wouldn't really work or the same principle could be used for infinite atmospheric power. You'd either rapidly fill your dome with water or there would be no energy transfer.

Geothermal power might work better, the bottom of the ocean is a nice cool 4 C and will stay that way due to water's density/temperature relationship.
 
An example of that sort of group is

Seasteading Institute

Please note I do not recommend investing with these people, I think they are borderline nuts but they are an example of the kind of thinking out there...with emphasis on the out there...."Hey everyone let's pay the same price as real estate in London or New York to go live in some crappy third world country" erm yes.

For me the oddity is that as anyone whose spent a lot of time on a ship will tell you, being on the ocean is a tale of the many tasks you will do, promptly, exactly when the expert in one of many subsets tell you to do them, or everybody dies. More than that, everyone has to keep ready to react, quickly and without hesitation, to an emergency that could happen at any moment. It's the quintessential "everyone is in this together" environment, because if it isn't, everyone one might die.

Anyone who's spent a ton of time around the college kids who make up some of the most enthusiastic proponents of seasteading will see the disconnect here almost immediately.
 
If you'll allow other than ocean floor, what about ocean thermal conversion on a massive scale?:eek::cool::cool: Gigantic oil rig-like structures, first near shore off Puerto Rico, the Yucatan, New Guinea, maybe Ethiopia & Brazil, then in mid-ocean. Add wind farms offshore & (to deliver the power) relay satellites. The "harvest"? Energy, fresh water, kelp...plus ocean research and tourism $$.:cool::cool:

OTOH, there's mining of the ocean floor manganese nodules... Beyond that, I'm not sure what you can "harvest" on the continental shelf.

From both, you're going to get big investment & development of minisubs , & hard diving suits (akin to JIM suits), for research & tourists--just for starters.
 
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