In the classic guy flick Men of Honor, Navy diver Carl Brashear (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.) has to prove himself by walking 12 steps on land in an old- (although at the period depicted in the film, new-) school 290-pound Mark V diving suit. Nuytco Research’s new Exosuit atmospheric diving system is twice as heavy. This hard metal dive suit is loaded from helmet to boots with tons of advancements, building on a quarter century of military and commercial experience in the field with its predecessor, the very orange and even bulkier Newtsuit.
With a neutral buoyant umbilical line almost a quarter mile long, the Exosuit is depth rated to 1,000 feet. Up to eight thrusters—controlled either by the pilot in-suit or remotely by crew mates topside—propel it through the surf. In addition to all the fancy telemetry, propulsion and communication systems, it sports dual LED lights each rated at almost 10,000 lumens, an HD video camera (naturally) and built-in sonar module.
It’s got a bunch of safety features incorporated as well, including real-time cabin pressure monitoring. (Yes, it’s a big enough suit that being inside it is referred to as a cabin.) And the ability to jettison the thrusters and/or umbilical. Counting the personal underwater jet pack, all those fancy features as described above officially make this our third favorite way to go down, which is high praise indeed.
Photos by Nuytco Research