Rinspeed Underwater sQuba Car uses Neptune Space Masks during dives!

 

Imagine, you’re driving on the sandy streets of the Bahamas, soaking up the sun in your new convertible, and plunging straight into the sea for your first dive of the day. And all without ever getting out of the car! Frank Rinderknecht, a modern day James Bond, is doing exactly that in his new concept car - The sQuba - the worlds first submersible automobile.

This sports car not only drives like a dream, it dives like one too. At the push of a button the car dives up to 10 meters (33 feet) under the sea.

“It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water,” says Rinderknecht. “The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.” Instead of a combustion engine, the car is powered by three electric motors — these three motors are located in the rear. One provides propulsion on land, the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring.  They are supported by two powerful Seabob jet drives in the front, which ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvers, for opening and closing the water intake. The rotating outlet jets were designed to be extremely light, yet twist resistant by using high-tech nano materials. The two-seater also includes a self-contained on-board oxygen system to supply the driver and passenger with fresh air for breathing.

Our friends at Rinspeed are now using our OceanREEF Full Face Masks for their underwater communication and diving needs. The car is a convertible for safety and weight reasons, leaving divers exposed to the sea. Our masks were a perfect fit for this amphibious technology. I want one.

 

Ocean REEF Helps Aquanauts Live Ocean Under the Sea!

Ever wanted to live under the sea? You may be able to very soon thanks to a venture called Project Abyss, Explorer Team Pelican. A small underwater colony has been created at an island called Ponza, Cala Feola, off the coast of Italy. For 336 hours, (14 days), a group of 6 Aquanaut athletes lived their lives in partially self-sufficient bells. Each bell has its own unique purpose, such as providing living quarters, to generating electricity, and providing food deliveries, and desalinating ocean water to fresh water.

The aim of the Abyss Project is to pioneer a physiological livable space within the extreme conditions of the ocean. This includes understanding all changes that occur at epidermal, cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic and physiological levels. During the hours of the day the crew had to obtain their food, work on construction of the village, monitor equipment, visit the gym, and daily living. Thirty percent of their time was spent in the common structure, a watertight pressurized compartment. The rest of the time was spent in the open sea. That’s were OceanREEF comes in. The Aquanauts were equipped with our very own Neptune Space masks and communications systems. Throughout the 14 days of exposure to the sea, these aquanauts had the extraordinary advantage of constant communication to the surface and each other. Due to the maximized exposure to the elements, as much as 14 hours a day, divers were able to keep their faces dry and supple thanks to our full face masks.

Aquanaut Giordani: “We have left a key on the ocean floor, a key that opens the door to this splendid world, a key that belongs to everyone on earth.”

Ocean REEF makes a splash at the Newsstand

Want a good shot of the Neptune Space Predator? Just take a look at April-May Edition of H2Ops Magazine which features Ocean REEF's newest mask on the cover.

Distributed worldwide, H2Ops reports on happenings within the professional subsea industry.

A little closer to home, the M100 portable surface transceiver also makes an appearance in the 'Dive Shop' column of the June issue of Dive Training magazine.

In the column, Dive Training lists one the M100 as being beneficial because it allows for surface operators to communicate unimpaired.

 

Ocean REEF to ScubaBoard:
We're Here!!

Ocean REEF has joined ScubaBoard.com's 'Q and A for Manufacturers' section! The next time you have a question about the Neptune System or diving in general, stop by the website that 65,000 fellow divers trust to discuss everything scuba.