Blue Abyss
A rendering of what Blue Abyss' astronaut training facility in Brook Park may look like when built in 2026.
But not just any research center: the largest commercial astronaut training center in the world.
Blue Abyss, an aerospace company headquartered in Cornwall, U.K., has been eyeing since late 2022 some 13 acres of untouched land in Brook Park to build its first American campus for future dwellers of the International Space Station. And yesterday, following a meeting with Cuyahoga County's Finance & Budgeting Committee, it got a nice pre-development boost: a $450,000 grant.
A way to tap into the booming private investment into space and deep sea exploration—see: SpaceX and Blue Origin—John Vickers, Blue Abyss' founder and British Army Veteran, set out to create a one-stop campus to house training for a variety of disciplines in the worlds of marine and space exploration.
One with a human centrifuge for high-G research; a parabolic flight simulator for microgravity experiences; and a pool for freedivers and astronauts to simulate space or test autonomous underwater vehicles—a cavernous pool with enough water to fill 17 Olympic-sized ones, with a cylindrical "shaft" 150 feet deep to aid deep sea simulation. (About as tall as the Cleveland Public Library on Superior Avenue.)
And to house all of the visiting NASA students and deep-diving shift workers, Blue Abyss is planning a 130-room boutique hotel.
Such a campus, which would cost roughly $235 million to build and would break ground later this year, would lure novices and veterans alike seeking "extreme environment training," Blue Abyss COO Marc Drew told County Council. Those who might otherwise head to NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, or the Deep Research Labs in the U.K.
"There are other companies that can provide some aspects for astronaut training," Drew said. But "the ability to take an astronaut and put them through the long arm centrifuge so they can experience the high G forces; the next day, put them onto the parabolic flight, so they then experience very quickly zero gravity; the ability to then put them into the pool so they can start experience doing spacewalks?"
"That will be a unique global capability," he said.
And, Drew and others argued, a decent job creator. Some 1,759 full-time equivalent jobs could pop up, a Kent State University study done late last year, found—a count that could grow to 3,900 by 2029. And a $3.5 million jump in Brook Park tax revenue.
That's, of course, if Blue Abyss' wavy campus actually opens its doors in 2026. Several on Council worried that the dream center for Northeast Ohio aerospace could go the route of the "Icebreaker" wind farm off the shores of Lake Erie that was put on hold due to a lawsuit and concerns about killing birds.
"That project went on for one year, two years, five years, 10 years, and we're not close to substantially completing that project," District 6 Councilman Jack Schron said. "Fortunately, we didn't have any funds there."
"This is not a project that's without risk," District 2 Councilman Dale Miller added. "This is a new and difficult undertaking, and it's not typical for the county to be involved at the pre-development stage. But our intention is to give the project a catalytic boost at a critical time that's necessary for them to bring the following stages to completion."
But such risk, minding rising construction costs and high interest rates, comes with potential that could be parsed down to one word: limitless.
Apart from the on-staff scientists and scuba divers, Blue Abyss could tap into the growing market for space tourism, albeit a lot closer to the ground. Drew painted a future where Cleveland residents and tourists alike could pay a decent fee to experience zero gravity for about 20 seconds. "So if you don't want to go into space" he said, "you can come to Blue Abyss."
Schron seemed to tap into Drew's itch for branding opportunities, for naming rights, for, say, competition with Cedar Point, the Great Lakes Science Center. "You know, it seems like an attractive place for Disney to extend a hotel brand," Schron speculated.
Other than spending this year locking down the $250 million or so needed to finish Blue Abyss' campus, Drew said the company is seeking or "in talks with" your usual suspects in our age of private ventures into space exploration. With Virgin Galactic, with Axiom Space, with Sierra.
And with NASA Glenn, the government-backed facility down the road on Aerospace Parkway seems to need a tad bit more convincing: "While we have spoken with the company about our facilities and expertise in dealing with low-gravity environments," a NASA spokesperson said in an email, "we don’t have any contracts or agreements with them at this time."
"Why Cleveland?" Schlon questioned at Council. "We all love Cleveland, but why would this project, with all those brand names you're talking about?"
Drew answered rationally, positing that Vickers chose those 13 acres of land due to its proximity to a NASA outpost and an international airport. And, Drew added, the executive was, he heard, moved by the eagerness of those whom he met with.
"I think he came to Cleveland and was impressed with the passion," he said. "He met a whole breadth of individuals, and was convinced that the way that Cleveland integrates its economic development, it was the right place for us to set up shop."
Blue Abyss is aiming to break ground for its 300,000-square-foot campus before the end of the year, and is planning to open, Drew said, by "mid-2026." If it does, it will be the largest facility in the world with capabilities for both deep-sea diving and parabolic flight.
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