DIVE INTO THE WORLD’S DEEPEST POOL
The Blue Abyss pool will train scientists and astronauts for subsea and space environments
WORDSAILSA HARVEY
A new indoor swimming pool is set to steal the title of world’s deepest and largest with a volume of 42,000 cubic metres – large enough to contain the water of 17 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Named after the company building it, Blue Abyss will also become the deepest pool Did you know?
Blue Abyss is a £150 million ($194 million) investment housed in a closed environment, with a maximum depth of 50 metres. The deepest point will narrow into a 16-metre-wide cylindrical section, while the pool’s surface opens up to an area of 40 by 50 metres.
It’s being built in Cornwall, but the pool is not open to the public. It will instead be used for sea and space research, for astronaut training, energy research projects and defence and ecology research. Large pools like this are essential for astronauts to experience environments similar to space, navigating their surroundings while experiencing weightlessness. This sensation is achieved by the neutral buoyancy divers achieve while underwater. Neutral buoyancy occurs when an object’s density is equal to the density of the fluid it’s immersed in. Inflating a diving suit to balance a diver’s weight creates an equal floating and sinking force closely resembling the weightlessness of microgravity.