Flying Submarine “Virgin Oceanic” Officially Unveiled By Richard Branson

After conquering the skies and making the dream of commercial space travel a reality, English billionaire Sir Richard Branson has now set his eyes on touching the unexplored depths of the oceans. He and explorer Chris Welsh talked in a press conference in Newport Beach, California, about their adventurous plans to navigate their unique submarine to the deepest points of all the 5 oceans within a span of 2 years. They expect to start this daring exploration trip to the bowels of the ocean later this year. And for starters, they have scheduled Virgin Oceanic’s debut dive in the Western Pacific with the intended destination being the Mariana Trench. For the record, Mariana Trench is the deepest trench in the world and lies at an unbelievable 36,201 feet (11,033 meters) below the sea level! If Branson and Welsh are able to do what they have said, then it will be a first of its kind record breaking feat.

#-Link-Snipped-#"With space long ago reached by man, and commercial spaceflight tantalizingly close, the last great challenge for humans is to reach and explore the depths of our planet's oceans," said Branson.

"More men have been to the moon than have been down further than 20,000 feet," he told AFP, announcing the Jules Verne, "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"-style project at Newport Harbor, south of Los Angeles.

The piloting job for the first dive will be undertaken by former US sailor and explorer Chris Welsh with Branson available as a backup pilot. If all the things including the pressure testing are successfully undertaken, then the mini sub may take a plunge in the Pacific in 2011 only.

The small submarine has an exterior design that closely resembles a space craft. It has got wings and a hydrodynamic shape that will help reduce the pressure on the submersible vehicle when it is thousands of feet below the sea level. The awesome Virgin sub can literally fly with its well engineered flying wings for a distance of approximately 10 kilometers over the deep, dark and mystifying ocean floor. Also it can work autonomously for a whole day and take video footage of the untouched marine flora and fauna.

Welsh, the chief pilot of the Oceanic said that he is well aware of the dangers below and that sufficient care has been taken in the designing and manufacturing of the submarine. This little vehicle is made up of 8000 pounds of solid carbon fiber and titanium. The viewing dome is made up of quartz. The structure of the sub is strong enough to sustain pressure which is about 100 times greater than the normal atmospheric pressure. Not even the tiniest of the leakages is acceptable because the leak can cut open stainless steel or human flesh which will result in instant death. When asked about the safety features of the Virgin Oceanic, Branson seemed to be pretty confident. We can assume that his confidence stems from his past daredevil adventures and unthinkably innovative business plans like circumnavigating the world in a balloon, starting commercial space travel with Virgin Galactic, etc. Branson thinks that he will be entering about 30 odd records in the Guinness Book of world records. He will himself pilot the submarine for its second dive in the Atlantic Ocean with the target being the Puerto Rico trench which is ominously deep at 28,232 feet (8,605 m) below sea level! Once the Virgin Oceanic successfully carries out the 5 dives, Branson wants to build a bigger submarine so that more people can become “aquanauts”- a term invented by Richard for those people who go below 20,000 feet.

Branson believes that this flying sub’s journey will not only be an adventure but also an important scientific exploration. Let us see where this journey will lead and will this sort of thing be commercialized. So do you want to be an aquanaut or would you rather prefer a trip to the Moon?

For a trailer of this amazing vehicle, see this video:

Source: #-Link-Snipped-# Image credit: Official site | Virgin

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