A new underwater habitat has taken its place on the seabed off the Florida Keys, offering scientists something they have not had in US waters for decades: a permanent place to live and work beneath the ocean for days at a time. Ocean infrastructure company DEEP has installed its Vanguard pilot habitat at Tennessee Reef inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Positioned 17 metres (56 feet) below the surface, the structure is entering its final commissioning phase before hosting its first research crews. It is the first open-ocean subsea human habitat to be built, tested and deployed in the United States in around 40 years, marking a return to long-duration underwater research after a lengthy gap.
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