The grandson of renowned oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fabian Cousteau, has been living underwater for the past 22 days in a laboratory roughly the size of a school bus. Fabian’s goal is to break the record set by his grandfather of continuously living underwater for 30 days.

The project, called Mission 31, was created to both pay homage to the great Jacques Cousteau and to be an experiment-laden expedition that can help expand the depth of knowledge scientists have about the oceans.

Mission 31 coincides with the 50th anniversary of a monumental legacy left by his grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who is credited with creating the first ocean floor habitats for humans and leading a team of ocean explorers on the first attempt to live and work underwater aboard Conshelf Two. The ambitious 30-day living experiment in the Red Sea succeeded as the first effort in saturation diving, proving that it could be done without suffering any ill effects.

Mission 31 will be longer than the Conshelf Two experiment by one full day, 30 more feet of saturation and will broadcast each moment.

“It’s very much like an International Space Station mission. This is the Inner Space Station,” Cousteau said in an interview with CBS News.

As the Mission 31 website points out, the surface of the globe is composed of nearly 90 percent of oceans, yet only 5 percent of the oceans have been explored.

“If we don’t spark the interest of our upcoming generations in terms of ocean exploration, we are faced with some of the most dire consequences that human beings have ever faced,” said Cousteau.

The mission is taking place on board Aquarius, the world’s only underwater marine laboratory, which is operated by Florida International University. Located 63 feet below the surface near deep coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Aquarius measures 43 by 20 by 16.5 feet and weighs approximately 81 tons.

The habitat is able to withstand pressures up to 120 feet deep and has six bunk beds; hot water; a mini kitchen with microwave and refrigerator; air conditioning; computers; and wireless telemetry that connects to the Aquarius base on shore.