Tektite habitat

Habitat

The Tektite habitat was designed and built by General Electric Company Space Division at the Valley Forge Space Technology Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The Project Engineer who was responsible for the design of the habitat was Brooks Tenney, Jr. Tenney also served as the underwater Habitat Engineer on the International Mission, the last mission on the Tektite II project. The Program Manager for the Tektite projects was Dr. Theodore Marton at General Electric. The habitat appeared as a pair of silos: two white metal cylinders 12.5 ft in diameter and 18 ft high, joined by a flexible tunnel and seated on a rectangular base in 43 ft depth of water.

Tektite I

On 28 January 1969, a detachment from Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 augmented by an additional 17 Seabee divers from both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets as well as the 21st NCR began the installation of the habitat in Great Lameshur Bay in the U. S. Virgin Islands. They had it completed on February 12. On February 15, 1969, three days later, four U.S. Department of Interior scientists (Ed Clifton, Conrad Mahnken, Richard Waller and John VanDerwalker) descended to the ocean floor to begin the ambitious diving project dubbed "Tektite I". By 18 March 1969, the four aquanauts had established a new world's record for saturated diving by a single team. On April 15, 1969, the aquanaut team returned to the surface with over 58 days of marine scientific studies. More than 19 hours of decompression time were needed to accommodate the scientists' return to the surface. The United States Office of Naval Research coordinated Tektite I. Denzil Pauli, of the Office of Naval Research, was the Program Director for Tektite I.

Much of the research for Tektite I centered on humans in this new environment. Topics investigated would include: biology (blood changes, sleep patterns, oxygen toxicity), decompression and decompression sickness, microbiology and mycology.

Tektite II

The United States Department of the Interior coordinated Tektite II, with part of the funding coming from NASA, which was interested in the psychological study of the scientific teams working in closed and restricted environments, similar to that of spacecraft on long missions. A team of Behavioral Observers from the University of Texas at Austin, led by Robert Helmreich, were tasked to record round the clock activities of the aquanauts by CCTV.

The missions were carried out in the spring and summer of 1970 in Great Lameshur Bay, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, at a depth of 43 ft. Tektite II comprised ten missions lasting 10–20 days with four scientists and an engineer on each mission, including one all-female team.

The Tektite II missions were the first to undertake in-depth ecological studies from a saturation habitat. Ichthyologist and director of the Australian Museum, Frank Talbot, joined one of the missions.Medical and human research oversight for Tektite II was well documented in a series of reports covering a project overview, saturation diving, lessons learned from Tektite I, application to Tektite II, medical responsibilities and psychological monitoring, medical supervision duties medical and biological objectives project logistics, lessons learned, excursions to deeper depths from storage pressure, decompression tables, general medical observations, psychological observations, blood changes and general program conclusions.

Ecology

There were nine studies on the ecology of coral reef fishes carried out during the Tektite series:

• influence of herbivores on marine plants
• bio-acoustic studies
• observations on cleaner shrimps
• isopods associated with reef fishes
• behavior of reef fishes in relation to fish pots
• bioturbation by the sand tilefish
• escape response in a damsel fish
• nocturnal-diurnal changeover in activity patterns, and
• space resource-sharing

Physiology

A goal of the Tektite program was to prove that saturation diving techniques in an underwater laboratory, breathing a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere could be safely and efficiently accomplished at a minimal cost.

Lambertsen's "Predictive Studies Series" that started with Tektite I in 1969 and ended in 1997, researched many aspects of human physiology in extreme environments.

Tektite III

When Tektite II ended, General Electric placed the habitat in storage in Philadelphia. A group of interested parties purchased the habitat from General Electric for $1.00 with the stipulation it would be removed from the GE storage facility. The habitat was trucked across the United States to Fort Mason in San Francisco, where it was placed on display. Attempts were made to refurbish the habitat so it could be used in San Francisco Bay as a teaching tool.

By 1980, the habitat was fully restored and certified to be used underwater, and named Tektite III; however, funds for actually submerging and operating the habitat again were not available. While the habitat was on display at Fort Mason, many school children were taken through the habitat free of charge by volunteers. Lack of funds ended the project and the habitat was moved to storage along the Oakland Estuary in 1984. After several years, the habitat again deteriorated. In 1991, the habitat was dismantled by welding school students and the metal was recycled.

References

References

1. (May 1970). "Tektite 1, man-in-the-sea project: marine science program". Science.
2. Collette, BB. (1996). "Results of the Tektite Program: Ecology of coral-reef fishes. In: MA Lang, CC Baldwin (Eds.) The Diving for Science…1996, "Methods and Techniques of Underwater Research"". Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Sixteenth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC..
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210510052506/https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/01/25/this-week-in-seabee-history-week-of-jan-24/ THIS WEEK IN SEABEE HISTORY (Week of Jan. 24)], by Frank A. Blazich Jr, [[Seabee. ''Seabee'' magazine]] online
4. Edel PO. (June 1971). "Delineation of emergency surface decompression and treatment procedures for project Tektite aquanauts". Aerosp Med.
5. (April 1971). "Blood volume changes in divers of Tektite I". Aerosp Med.
6. (January 1971). "Aquanaut sleep patterns during tektite I: a 60-day habitation under hyperbaric nitrogen saturation". Aerosp Med.
7. Clark JM. (2004). "The Predictive Studies Series: Correlation of physiologic responses to extreme environmental stresses". Undersea Hyperb Med.
8. (June 1970). "Tektite-I program: bacteriological aspects". Aerosp Med.
9. (June 1970). "Tektite-I program: aerobiological aspects". Aerosp Med.
10. (April 1970). "The tektite-I dive. Mycological aspects". Arch. Environ. Health.
11. (January 14, 1972). "Tektite 2 habitability research program".
12. (August 1971). "Scientists in the sea". U.S. Department of the Interior.
13. Crawford, Amy. (24 March 2023). "The Forgotten Women Aquanauts of the 1970s".
14. (31 May 2023). "Dr Frank Hamilton Talbot, Director 1966-1975".
15. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. I. Introduction". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
16. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. II. Saturation diving". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
17. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 3. Tektite I". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
18. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. IV. Evolution of project Tektite II". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
19. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. V. Medical staff and responsibilities; psychological monitoring". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
20. (1972). "Tektite II; medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. VI. The spectrum of medical supervision of the aquanauts". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
21. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. VII. Other medical and biological objectives". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
22. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 8. Tektite logistics". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
23. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. IX. Mission-by-mission experiences". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
24. (1972). "Tektite II; medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. X. The aborted 100-FSW (Minitat) program". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
25. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XI. Decompression tables". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
26. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XII. General medical observations". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
27. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 13. Some preliminary psychological observations". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
28. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XIV. Biochemical, hematological, and endocrine studies". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
29. (1972). "Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XV. Conclusions". Tex. Rep. Biol. Med..
30. [https://web.archive.org/web/20181006210945/http://www.islands.org/Tektite/index_files/Page992.htm Tektite Underwater Habitat Museum - Tektite III] (archived from [http://www.islands.org/Tektite/index_files/Page992.htm the original]) - Note that this page states: "Web page text edited and revised with permission from James W. Miller and Ian G. Koblick's book: ''Living and Working in the Sea'', 1995.