UND, Altru Sports Complex breaks ground on neutral buoyancy facility
How do astronauts learn to move in zero gravity while still on Earth?
The answer lies somewhere underwater.
And soon, at the bottom of an Olympic-sized pool inside the Altru Sports Complex, UND researchers will have their own place to explore it.
A 13-foot-deep, 18-by-34-foot well — formally known as a neutral buoyancy facility — is currently under construction beneath the floor at the deep end of the pool. When complete, the chamber will allow researchers, students and astronauts-in-training to simulate the weightlessness space. It will also be used for equipment testing, unmanned vehicle deployment and motion analysis — all thanks to UND’s Department of Space Studies.
For Pablo De Leon, professor and chair of the department, the project marks the culmination of decades of dedication to enhancing UND’s space research capabilities.
“In 1990, I started doing underwater extravehicular training with space suits in Huntsville, Ala.,” De León said. “I came to UND in 2004, and since then, I have been an advocate of having our own underwater training facility. So, this feels like a dream come true after these many years. The planets had to align for this to happen, and this includes all the organizations that were involved in this project.”
