Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory Renovates Genesis Chamber for Advanced Hyper-Hypobaric Research
The Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) completed renovations on the Genesis hypo-hyperbaric chamber in Groton, Connecticut, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in September 2025. The chamber, capable of pressurization to 300 feet and altitudes of 70,000 feet, resumes human hyper-hypobaric research for Navy Medicine Research & Development after being inactive since 2017.
The complex includes three chambers, with Genesis being the largest, equipped with advanced life-support systems and a vacuum pump. NSMRL scientists are currently conducting three studies, including one on carbon dioxide absorption for disabled submarines, another on sympathetic nervous system responses to decompression stress, and a collaboration with NASA on hypobaric decompression for spaceflight.
The overhaul, initiated in 2019, is the most extensive since the chamber's establishment in the 1960s under Capt. George F. Bond.
