Cousteau's grandson plans 31-day undersea mission

The grandson of legendary French ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau is planning a 31-day underwater mission in Florida later this year, a statement said Thursday. Fabien Cousteau, a filmmaker and explorer, plans to lead a team in an extended mission based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius underwater laboratory off the coast of Key Largo, a statement said. Cousteau plans to study the effects of climate change and pollution while researching the impact of extended living beneath the ocean, a spokeswoman for the expedition told AFP. "The research team plans to dive down 63 feet at the end of September to climb inside the Aquarius, an 'inner-space station' managed by Florida International University," spokeswoman Amy Summers said. "The mission is to study the impact of climate change and pollution in South Florida waters and test the psychological impact of living in the ocean depths." A statement said "Mission 31" would be the first time a research team had spent 31 full days underwater. Cousteau also plans to carry out science and technology-based experiments with underwater motorcycles, autonomous robots and diving helmets, it said. Mission 31 is a homage to Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf projects of the 1960s, and will extend by one day the 30-day underwater living experiment he carried out in the Red Sea in 1963 known as Conshelf II. Fabien Cousteau's team will carry out human physiological and psychological experiments to determine how long humans can live without access to sunlight and the effects of long-term high pressure. The Divers Alert Network (DAN) research team will study prolonged confinement on brain function and the physiological effects after long-term saturation diving.