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Answer by Robert Frost, instructor and flight controller in the flight operations directorate at NASA, on Quora:
The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, project has a charter to extend human presence across the solar system by the affordable and innovative use of spaceflight analogs.
It’s a facility that allows NASA to work toward its goals while simultaneously performing experiments that further fields such as marine biology and geology, in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Operating in the underwater environment involves similar challenges and hazards to operating in space. If something goes wrong, the crew cannot quickly be evacuated (there is a 15-hour decompression required), so the space flight resource management skills are tested in a realistic environment in which safety must remain a constant portion of the crew’s focus.
NEEMO 21 is a 16-day mission with a variety of experiments on the time line. These include testing a mini DNA sequencer, a medical telemetry device, operations software, and optical communications equipment; performing simulated spacewalks to collect geological and marine biology samples; working with underwater remote operating vehicles; restoring coral and developing a coral nursery; and testing Mars analog operations (crew and ground working together with 15-minute delay in communications).
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