Down in the depths: U.K. company rolls out underwater home they hope will be habitable for humans

Dawn Kernagis of Deep explains how people can stay in the company's underwater habitat, called 'Vanguard,' for days or even weeks at a time.

A U.K. company has rolled out its first underwater home, and claims it’s nearly ready for tenants to move in.

Deep, the company behind the project, says its first habitat called “Vanguard” is currently undergoing testing and will soon be able to support human inhabitants off the coast of Florida.

“This is a place that scientists, and educators, and artists, and anybody that we want to get more access to underneath the surface of the ocean, they can live and work and thrive under the sea,” Dawn Kernagis, Deep’s scientific director, said in an interview with CTV Your Morning on Friday.

She explained that the habitat features an air-filled chamber that assists in the “saturation” process, where a person’s blood and tissue become saturated with the air that they’re breathing, which allows them to stay down longer than divers with conventional equipment like a SCUBA tank..

Kernagis says saturation has been used before, including for military, commercial and scientific uses.

The advantage of the Deep habitats, she says, is the saturation process, which allows divers to stay down longer.

“Now you’re literally immersed in that environment for days at a time. You get to observe 24-seven what that life cycle looks like on the bottom, what’s happening around you,” she explained, adding that the divers can journey outside of the habitat for longer missions covering a wider area with longer dives.

“We’re just taking this to the next step and evolving how humans use saturation diving,” she said.

The habitats are already deployed, but Kernagis says that Deep is working with a certifying body to confirm that they’re safe beyond initial testing.

Inhabitants will be about 13 metres deep and are expected to move in by fall, Kernagis said. The missions are expected to last five days with divers staying in an about 25 square metre living space.

“Hopefully your crew gets along really well,” Kernagis said. She added that the tight quarters may be able to help train astronauts for the close proximity in spaceships. Similar research has been conducted in isolated Antarctic research stations.

A huge portion of the Earth’s oceans remain unexplored by humans and Deep hopes to bridge the gap between people and the darkest depths.

Kernagis said Deep plans to deploy a second habitat named “Sentinel” next year, adding it will be bigger with room for larger crews - and sit deeper.