Phil Nuytten's newest diving suit may as well have been invented by Tony Stark. At six and a half feet long, and weighing 530 pounds, the aluminum contraption looks more like a Buzz Lightyear ripoff than anything.
Even its name, the "Exosuit," sounds like slang from a science fiction novel.
It's a first-of-its-kind design that lets deep sea divers plunge more than 1,000 feet underwater, all the while maintaing surface level pressure. The state-of-the-art rotary joints throughout the arms and legs allow divers extreme flexibility and finesse, as well — apparently, enough to pick up a dime.
This July, researchers are using the suit to study bioluminescent organisms deep within the Atlantic Ocean. Due to their extreme depths, the creatures were previously only attainable via remote instruments or trawl nets. Now, scientists will be able to use the Exosuit and observe them up close in their natural habitats.
The ultimate goal is to collect the organisms' unique, fluorescent proteins and use them in future studies about cancer detection, spinal cord injuries and the overall makeup of the human brain.
See also: The U.S. Army Is Building an 'Iron Man' Suit for Soldiers

"I'm a deluxe blacksmith," Nuytten, Ph.D., tells me over the phone. "I make suits of armor for the ocean."

He's been designing diving suits for the better part of the past 50 years. After founding several companies that specialized in atmospheric diving system (ADS) products throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he released the Newtsuit with Nuytco Research in 1985. At the time, it was the first suit of its kind with rotary joints. It's since remained the go-to suit for salvage and ocean drilling jobs, used by the military, NASA and the National Geographic Society.

The Exosuit, he says, is more or less a souped-up version of the Newtsuit.

"It's a paradox: You need a suit that's rigid to withstand the outside pressure, but you also need to be able to move and walk," he says. "That was the big problem I had early on. The heart of an ADS is the joint system. Without that, the suit's nothing more than a small submarine that you wear."

ADS suits differ from traditional scuba diving suits in that they maintain an internal pressure of one technical atmosphere, the unit of pressure that's the same as sea level. This eliminates the regular dangers associated with deep diving; with an ADS suit, the diver doesn't need to decompress upon reentering the surface, as he would when scuba diving, so there's no need for special gas mixtures or the potential for decompression sickness. ADS users don't even necessarily have to be skilled swimmers.

The Exosuit has multiple oxygen systems, located on the back, that hold up to 50 hours of one atmosphere-type life support. There are four 1.6 horsepower water-jet thrusters, also on the back, that divers can use to propel through the water like astronauts in zero gravity. The arms end in stumps, onto which divers can attach a variety of hand-like gadgets, depending on the mission.

Inside the helmet is a side panel that displays oxygen and pressure conditions, including a transmitter so pilots can communicate with teammates on the surface. The rotary joints, which Nuytten argues are the most important aspects, are laced with oil that helps reduce friction and ensure movements are as smooth as possible.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, the son of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau and founder of the Ocean Futures Society, was one of the first divers to test the Exosuit in July 2013. Because of stormy weather, he tested the suit in a pool instead of the open ocean. Still, he says, he felt more alive than he has in years.

"I'm 75 years old, and I felt like a teenager again when I was using this," he says. "Until now, most of this type of work has been left up to submarines, which are expensive and clunky. You can only do so much when you're inside a submersible."

Image: American Museum of Natural History

Deep diving has never been a safe operation. More than 10 divers were killed from decompression-related injuries during the 1970s, Nuytten says. One of them, his friend and co-diver Norm McDonald, died after the decompression chamber he entered after a dive caught on fire.

"I'm a great believer in these one atmosphere systems," he says.

"As humans, we like to think of ourselves as a species that's very tough and flexible. But that's absolute horse shit. We're one of the most fragile critters on Earth, designed at sea level in a warm environment. We can't go far from those design specifications without a lot of help."

The 12-person team of researchers this summer will use the Exosuit to explore an area called the Canyons, an underwater gully, about 100 miles off the coast of New England, that drops down to more than 10,000 feet at its deepest point. The suit will allow divers to conduct studies at 1,000 feet underwater — an area, referred to as the mid-water or mesopelagic zone, where many bioluminescent animals migrate after nightfall.

(Spark notes: People will be plunging 1,000 feet down, into pitch black water, at midnight.)

Vincent Pieribone, Ph.D., a researcher at the John B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, says the mission feels like something straight out of a comic book.

The team is made up of both diving experts and scientists like Pieribone. Each person underwent two months worth of training. Divers will use the Exosuit in conjunction with a custom-made, remotely operated vehicle called the DeepReef-ROV, and take turns being lowered into the water, connected via cable to the boat. It's unclear if everyone will end up using the suit. Pieribone says they'll determine it as the trip progresses.

The overall goal, he says, is to record the luminescent flashing patterns from the organisms in the mesopelagic zone. By recording the patterns, they'll be able to identify new bioluminescent proteins that could be used for cancer cell-tagging and the development of brain activity probes.

"In the brain, we modify these proteins to change the level of how they glow," he says. "In short, we can inject these proteins into the brain — say, a mouse brain, for example — and it translates invisible cell activity into flashes of light. This would open doors into cell function and dysfunction. It could allow scientists to predict activity and tag potentially cancerous cells far in advance."

Video: YouTube, American Museum of Natural History

Pieriborne says the most tedious aspect of the project is getting in and out of the Exosuit. Just getting strapped in is a 30-minute process. The suit splits apart at the waist. First, the diver climbs into the legs, then gets wired up with communications, a CO2 scrubber and pedals in the feet. Then, the torso is lowered over the diver's head.

Because of the heavy metal composition, the arms are by default positioned to face the ground — so it's an extra struggle to wiggle your own arms into the suit as it's being lowered from above. The faceplate is attached after the legs and torso are connected.

"I was getting bruised just testing this," Pieribone says. "There's so little room in there. It's a struggle, especially if you're claustrophobic. The hours of air it provides is so high, but really, nobody's going to want to be in this for more than a few hours."

Cousteau says the upcoming fieldwork in July is only the beginning of great scientific advancements. In addition to the bioluminescent research, he says, the Exosuit has big potential for helping divers shoot underwater documentary films and discovering new species. Marine and biology education for the next generation could be drastically changed.

"This is a dream come true for divers and marine scientists everywhere," he says. "It's opening a door to a new layer of the ocean. We can only imagine what we'll find."

Video by Bianca Consunji. Graphic by Danielle Hernandez.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

"I'm a deluxe blacksmith," Nuytten, Ph.D., tells me over the phone. "I make suits of armor for the ocean."
He's been designing diving suits for the better part of the past 50 years. After founding several companies that specialized in atmospheric diving system (ADS) products throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he released the Newtsuit with Nuytco Research in 1985. At the time, it was the first suit of its kind with rotary joints. It's since remained the go-to suit for salvage and ocean drilling jobs, used by the military, NASA and the National Geographic Society.
The Exosuit, he says, is more or less a souped-up version of the Newtsuit.
"It's a paradox: You need a suit that's rigid to withstand the outside pressure, but you also need to be able to move and walk," he says. "That was the big problem I had early on. The heart of an ADS is the joint system. Without that, the suit's nothing more than a small submarine that you wear."
ADS suits differ from traditional scuba diving suits in that they maintain an internal pressure of one technical atmosphere, the unit of pressure that's the same as sea level. This eliminates the regular dangers associated with deep diving; with an ADS suit, the diver doesn't need to decompress upon reentering the surface, as he would when scuba diving, so there's no need for special gas mixtures or the potential for decompression sickness. ADS users don't even necessarily have to be skilled swimmers.
The Exosuit has multiple oxygen systems, located on the back, that hold up to 50 hours of one atmosphere-type life support. There are four 1.6 horsepower water-jet thrusters, also on the back, that divers can use to propel through the water like astronauts in zero gravity. The arms end in stumps, onto which divers can attach a variety of hand-like gadgets, depending on the mission.
Inside the helmet is a side panel that displays oxygen and pressure conditions, including a transmitter so pilots can communicate with teammates on the surface. The rotary joints, which Nuytten argues are the most important aspects, are laced with oil that helps reduce friction and ensure movements are as smooth as possible.
Jean-Michel Cousteau, the son of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau and founder of the Ocean Futures Society, was one of the first divers to test the Exosuit in July 2013. Because of stormy weather, he tested the suit in a pool instead of the open ocean. Still, he says, he felt more alive than he has in years.
"I'm 75 years old, and I felt like a teenager again when I was using this," he says. "Until now, most of this type of work has been left up to submarines, which are expensive and clunky. You can only do so much when you're inside a submersible."

Image: American Museum of Natural History
Deep diving has never been a safe operation. More than 10 divers were killed from decompression-related injuries during the 1970s, Nuytten says. One of them, his friend and co-diver Norm McDonald, died after the decompression chamber he entered after a dive caught on fire.
"I'm a great believer in these one atmosphere systems," he says.
"As humans, we like to think of ourselves as a species that's very tough and flexible. But that's absolute horse shit. We're one of the most fragile critters on Earth, designed at sea level in a warm environment. We can't go far from those design specifications without a lot of help."
The 12-person team of researchers this summer will use the Exosuit to explore an area called the Canyons, an underwater gully, about 100 miles off the coast of New England, that drops down to more than 10,000 feet at its deepest point. The suit will allow divers to conduct studies at 1,000 feet underwater — an area, referred to as the mid-water or mesopelagic zone, where many bioluminescent animals migrate after nightfall.
(Spark notes: People will be plunging 1,000 feet down, into pitch black water, at midnight.)

Vincent Pieribone, Ph.D., a researcher at the John B. Pierce Laboratory at Yale University and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, says the mission feels like something straight out of a comic book.
The team is made up of both diving experts and scientists like Pieribone. Each person underwent two months worth of training. Divers will use the Exosuit in conjunction with a custom-made, remotely operated vehicle called the DeepReef-ROV, and take turns being lowered into the water, connected via cable to the boat. It's unclear if everyone will end up using the suit. Pieribone says they'll determine it as the trip progresses.
The overall goal, he says, is to record the luminescent flashing patterns from the organisms in the mesopelagic zone. By recording the patterns, they'll be able to identify new bioluminescent proteins that could be used for cancer cell-tagging and the development of brain activity probes.
"In the brain, we modify these proteins to change the level of how they glow," he says. "In short, we can inject these proteins into the brain — say, a mouse brain, for example — and it translates invisible cell activity into flashes of light. This would open doors into cell function and dysfunction. It could allow scientists to predict activity and tag potentially cancerous cells far in advance."

Video: YouTube, American Museum of Natural History

Pieriborne says the most tedious aspect of the project is getting in and out of the Exosuit. Just getting strapped in is a 30-minute process. The suit splits apart at the waist. First, the diver climbs into the legs, then gets wired up with communications, a CO2 scrubber and pedals in the feet. Then, the torso is lowered over the diver's head.

Because of the heavy metal composition, the arms are by default positioned to face the ground — so it's an extra struggle to wiggle your own arms into the suit as it's being lowered from above. The faceplate is attached after the legs and torso are connected.

"I was getting bruised just testing this," Pieribone says. "There's so little room in there. It's a struggle, especially if you're claustrophobic. The hours of air it provides is so high, but really, nobody's going to want to be in this for more than a few hours."

Cousteau says the upcoming fieldwork in July is only the beginning of great scientific advancements. In addition to the bioluminescent research, he says, the Exosuit has big potential for helping divers shoot underwater documentary films and discovering new species. Marine and biology education for the next generation could be drastically changed.

"This is a dream come true for divers and marine scientists everywhere," he says. "It's opening a door to a new layer of the ocean. We can only imagine what we'll find."

Video by Bianca Consunji. Graphic by Danielle Hernandez.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Video: YouTube, American Museum of Natural History
Pieriborne says the most tedious aspect of the project is getting in and out of the Exosuit. Just getting strapped in is a 30-minute process. The suit splits apart at the waist. First, the diver climbs into the legs, then gets wired up with communications, a CO2 scrubber and pedals in the feet. Then, the torso is lowered over the diver's head.
Because of the heavy metal composition, the arms are by default positioned to face the ground — so it's an extra struggle to wiggle your own arms into the suit as it's being lowered from above. The faceplate is attached after the legs and torso are connected.
See also: Google Unveils Stunning Underwater 'Street Views' in Maps [PICS]
"I was getting bruised just testing this," Pieribone says. "There's so little room in there. It's a struggle, especially if you're claustrophobic. The hours of air it provides is so high, but really, nobody's going to want to be in this for more than a few hours."

Cousteau says the upcoming fieldwork in July is only the beginning of great scientific advancements. In addition to the bioluminescent research, he says, the Exosuit has big potential for helping divers shoot underwater documentary films and discovering new species. Marine and biology education for the next generation could be drastically changed.
"This is a dream come true for divers and marine scientists everywhere," he says. "It's opening a door to a new layer of the ocean. We can only imagine what we'll find."
Video by Bianca Consunji. Graphic by Danielle Hernandez.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.