A lot of people talk about interstellar colonization as a path to human survival of mass extinction events.<p>It seems like if we&#x27;re serious about that, we&#x27;d start by learning how to colonize hostile environments here on Earth, like the ocean floor.<p>Any long space voyage, even to the outer solar system, will depend on knowing how to put large numbers of people in a self-sustaining sealed environment.<p>We have the chance to put our engineering skills to the test right now, while conducting overlooked scientific research.<p>NOAA and NASA are both facing steep budget cuts. Part of me would like to see them integrated, since NOAA uses satellites to study the ocean and astronauts have used the ocean to train for space. It might eliminate some redundancy, help compare priorities, and maybe together they could levy a stronger, joint fight for funding scientific progress.