Living underwater record challenge - 9th December 2024

German aerospace engineer Rüdiger Koch is making an attempt to smash the Guinness World Record for living continuously under water.

The current record stands at 100 days, so Koch's aiming for 120-150 days. He's staying in a SeaPod off the coast of Panama, 1.2 km from the nearest island and 11 metres under water. However, for Koch and his team, the world record is just a small part of the experiment.

Rüdiger Koch: "So, what we are trying to do here is proving that the seas are actually a viable environment for, erm, human expansion. So, push the frontier."

The eco-friendly pod is constructed from a shell-like material that provides a natural habitat for corals and fish life, while Koch's colleagues are centred in a circular pod sitting just above the surface. The engineer is the co-founder of a company called Ocean Builders, the pod creators. Their hope is that this extended underwater stay will highlight the massive potential of underwater living and be a significant forward step in terms of sustainable human habitats.

Rüdiger Koch: "Moving out that that the, to the ocean is is is something we should do as a species. So there should be many people living out in the ocean, not just myself and a few others. So, umm, that would be actually a contribution to restore things like reefs."

To secure the record, Koch is prohibited from exiting the water, and his every move is carefully noted. As he's missing the opportunity to dive in the surrounding sea, his team are looking into ways of making this become reality, perhaps by transforming one of the windows into an airlock system.

Koch began his ambitious attempt on 26th September, and if all goes well, he'll be back on terra firma on 24th January 2025.