Ocean engineering company DEEP has announced that its first pilot subsea human habitat will be deployed at Tennessee Reef in Florida Keys to aid the study of ocean’s seafloor.

This “subsea human habitat”, called Vanguard, functions as an underwater cabin-like vessel  where four crew members can live and work underwater for days at a time. This enables extended time on the seafloor for ocean science, monitoring and conservation. 

The cabin will sit on the seafloor at a depth of 14 metres and it is the first subsea human habitat to be deployed in the United States in 40 years. Its installation is planned for the end of April 2026.

Tennessee Reef was selected as the surrounding areas are flagged as waters of special scientific interest.

Vanguard will be operated from DEEP Station Florida’s shoreside base, and it will support habitat control, aquanaut training, and emergency response.

The ‘Vanguard’ is also the first, pilot step to DEEP’s flagship habitat programme Sentinel, which is designed to support larger crews on longer underwater missions.

This then marks an important step in the ocean engineering firm’s mission to enable a continuous human presence in the ocean, in order to better our understanding of these environments. 

Norman Smith, Chief Technology Officer at DEEP, said: “Tennessee Reef provides Vanguard with a home in one of the world’s most important marine environments.” 

“We couldn’t be more excited to begin this next chapter. Seeing Vanguard deployed and ready to host aquanauts underwater will mark the start of a continuous human presence on the seafloor, in service of science, learning, and ocean stewardship,” he added.

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