New Steel Pod Enables Humans to Live and Work Underwater

Underwater ecosystem. Credit: Dimitris Siskopoulos / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

A recently unveiled alloy pod is opening the doorway to a caller section successful underwater living, allowing scientists to enactment and enactment heavy beneath the ocean’s aboveground for extended periods. Developed by British marine exertion institution DEEP, the compact structure, called Vanguard, is designed to relation astatine depths of up to 50 meters (164 feet).

The 12-meter (40-foot)-long situation includes a surviving space, dive center, and enactment base, each engineered for beingness nether pressure. It is built to location up to 4 aquanauts, offering capable country to sleep, eat, and behaviour probe without the request to resurface frequently.

The extremity is to springiness researchers the quality to unrecorded and enactment beneath the waves for days astatine a time, a cardinal advancement successful the effort to widen underwater missions beyond existent aboveground diving limits.

Design, features and underwater surviving capabilities of the alloy pod

Inside, the alloy pod features abstracted bunks, a galley for repast preparation, and a toilet. A satellite excavation allows divers to participate and exit the water straight from the structure.

Above the surface, a enactment buoy supplies electricity, clean water, aerial and discarded removal systems, on with a communications link.

The underwater basal that could 'make humans aquatic': Inside the alloy pod 164ft beneath the aboveground wherever researchers volition walk WEEKS astatine a clip pic.twitter.com/Hu5SBEHf8g

— Nasim Haider (@NasimHaider2) November 1, 2025

DEEP described the water arsenic a immense and mostly unexplored situation that has agelong captured quality interest. According to the company, Vanguard represents a important measurement successful turning humans into aquatic residents, not conscionable occasional visitors.

DEEP plans to run a planetary web of underwater habitats successful the aboriginal to found a much imperishable beingness beneath the sea.

Deployment timeline and aboriginal expansion

The pod was introduced this week successful Miami and has been positioned astatine a extent of 20 meters (65 feet) during its existent phase.

Though not yet deployed for afloat operations, it has been designed to relation safely astatine its people extent of 50 meters (164 feet) and is beardown capable to withstand the underwater effects of a category 5 hurricane.

Before afloat deployment, engineers volition transportation retired broad strategy checks and simulate some mean and exigency procedures. The institution has not yet confirmed an nonstop timeline oregon determination for the authoritative launch, but said those details volition beryllium released earlier the extremity of the year.

DEEP is besides moving connected a second, larger situation called Sentinel. This hotel-style basal is planned to beryllium located 200 meters (660 feet) beneath the aboveground disconnected the seashore of Wales and is portion of the company’s semipermanent strategy to grow the limits of underwater probe and habitation.