EExperience life at the Compagnie Maritime d’EXpertises (COMEX) through the stories of Gaspard and Léo, fifth-year multi-skilled officer cadets!

Experience life at the Compagnie Maritime d’EXpertises (COMEX) through the stories of Gaspard and Léo, fifth-year multi-skilled officer cadets!

“In the weeks leading up to our visit to Nice for the UNOC last June, we took part in an experiment organised by COMEX, in the presence of NASA. We learned about this experiment thanks to Adrien Gouyé, a research fellow at COMEX, whom we had contacted as part of our thesis on the links between space and the maritime world.

The aim of this experiment was to prepare for man’s arrival on Mars. To do this, it is necessary to establish curves similar to those used in diving, which requires an experimental approach. With such a project, we were immediately on board and introduced ourselves.

Here is how our experiment unfolded:
Medical and stress tests: At the AP-HM Sainte-Marguerite hospital in Marseille, we underwent a series of tests aimed primarily at assessing our maximum effort and lung capacity to verify that we met the criteria required for the experiment.

Then, at COMEX, we performed a series of exercises while wearing special masks that measured our effort in real time.

The experiment: It took place at COMEX in a hyperbaric/hypobaric chamber. After six hours of denitrogenation, the chamber was decompressed. We then performed six hours of exercises at a pressure of approximately 0.3 bar, equivalent to an altitude of just over 9,000 metres.
This pressure of 0.3 bar was not chosen at random: it corresponds to the pressure inside astronauts’ extravehicular activity suits.

This experiment was, of course, supervised by professionals in the field: COMEX, with its years of expertise in hyperbaric and hypobaric environments, NASA, which had already conducted this experiment at its facilities in Houston, and AP-HM, with Dr Coulange outside the chamber and a nurse inside.

We would like to thank once again everyone involved in this extremely enriching experience, and in particular Asmaa Demay and Yann Chouard, as well as the entire COMEX team for their impeccable organisation. We would also like to thank Dr Jean-Charles Reynier and Dr Mathieu Coulange for their medical supervision throughout the various stages, as well as Monica Hew, EVA engineer in Houston.

We would also like to thank Florence Blot, our thesis supervisor, who put us in touch with Mr Gouyé earlier in our studies, and François Lambert, who supported our trips to Marseille to take part in this experience.”
take part in this experience.”