A scientist who is living 30 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean gave DailyMail.com a tour of his home away from home where he is set to spend 100 days. Joseph Dituri, 55, a retired naval officer, is currently living in a 100-square-foot pod, where he is testing pre-NASA technology set for Mars and treatments to reverse aging. Dituri is studying how the human body responds to long-term exposure to extreme pressure in a small space for 100 days - a similar environment spacefaring heroes will endure while traveling to the Red Planet.

While the underwater lodge is small, the pod has a work area, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, and a small 'swimming pool' that acts as the exit and entrance and a window with a view of the ocean. Dituri, who began the mission on March 1, told DailyMail.com from the bunker on day 24: 'I'm loving it, I've got a coffee maker because God knows science does not happen without coffee.'

One of the devices being tested is a pre-NASA tool, meaning it must be tested before the agency takes it on. It is similar to Star Trek's tricorder, which scans the body to monitor a person's health and determine if they need medical assistance. Dituri is also investigating how to prevent muscle mass loss while in space, which plagues astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

'We're going to Mars, but it is going to take 200 days to get there on the best home and transfer window,' Dituri told DailyMail.com. '[When you get there] you are going to have decreased muscle mass, and you're not going to be able to see very far, and you're not going to be in really good shape, and you're going to have decreased bone density, and we're going to land you hard on a re-endurable market as it lands and slams down to the ground.

'I think maybe that's a bad idea and we need to figure some stuff out first, but that is just me.' Dituri's home away from home is located at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo. 'There is a TV, although I really do not know how to turn it on. I have a small freezer like in a hotel room,' he said, while also noting he keeps a stash of chocolate in the pod.

There is a small microwave on a shelf, the only thing that can be used for cooking. 'Every good hotel has to have a pool, and my hotel has a teeny little pool outside,' said Dituri. 'This is how we enter and exit from the habitat. So when I go for a scuba dive with all my scuba diving gear, I get it on. I go out of the hole, and then I dive around. So that's how people come in and come out.'

Dituri sleeps on a twin-size bed with a small bunk on top, which is the same setup in an adjacent room for scientists who visit him. He is currently 28 days, as of March 28, into his 100-day mission, and when completed, he will break the record - the previous record for most days spent underwater by a non-military was 73. And Dituri will spend 10 days more under the surface than military personnel spends in submarines. Military submarines can only support 90-day excursions before returning to shore.

Although he is testing futuristic technology, Dituri told DailyMail.com that another part of the mission is to teach children about the marine space. 'I want to reach these kids and talk to them about the science and engineering of actually being a scientist, and being under water and doing cool things as opposed to beakers and microscopes and classrooms,' he said while explaining how children dive to the pod and high five him at the window.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP