How special is the plan to put humans living under the sea?

UK-based DEEP is developing the Sentinel system, which it says is a modular, reconfigurable underwater habitat that would allow humans to live at depths of 200m for 28 days.

DEEP, a UK-based ocean technology company, has bought a closed dive site as a research centre and revealed its mission to "turn humans into aquatic life".

The module model allows humans to live for 28 days at a depth of 200m.

The cornerstone of the plan is an underwater habitat called the Sentinel system, which would allow humans to live and work at depths of 200 metres for up to a month.

The Sentinel system consists of interconnected modules and can be used for a variety of purposes, from collecting data on ocean chemistry to excavating historic shipwrecks.

The habitat can be expanded into a variety of shapes to accommodate a six-person mission as well as a 50-person research station.

The company hopes the habitat could foster a long-term human presence underwater, similar to the International Space Station (ISS) – which has allowed humans to live and work in space since 2000.

With the ship sunk at a depth of 50m, divers can only stay underwater for about 12 minutes before surfacing. An underwater habitat placed on the seabed near the wreck could serve as a base for divers.

The precursor to the Sentinel system would allow three people to live at a depth of 100m for up to a week and is due to be tested in early 2025.