Richard Branson is quite the adventurer; he's taken part in world record ballooning attempts, he about to launch the first commercial space ship that will one day launch passengers into low space orbit, he's tried to fly around the world without stopping and now marks his most dangerous project. He is setting his sights on exploring the deepest parts of our oceans.
Less than 3% of the seafloor has been explored apparently, and none of the deepest points of the planet have ever been explored beyond a brief visit to one. The opportunities to see and learn from these dives are staggering.
Yesterday saw him unveil his next pet project; called Virgin Oceanic, he will attempt 5 dives, in 5 oceans over the next 2 years in a specially design one-man sub that can withstand the immense pressures of the deepest oceans of the world.
The first dive will be to the deepest place on the planet: the bottom of the Mariana Trench - an eye-watering 11 kilometers (7 mi) straight down.
This will be the first time since 1960 that human eyes have set eye's here - unlike the previous the attempt their submersible will allow them to travel along the trench which has never been done before.
The second dive - to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench - will be piloted by Sir Richard Branson himself. You weren’t expecting him spend millions on his next adventure without having a go himself were you ? This trench is the deepest spot in the Atlantic Ocean at over 8 kilometers (more than 5 mi). This location is also near to Branson's home on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands. Which means he could well be back in time for tea with the family.
Subsequent dives will carry a human pilot to the bottom of the Arctic, Southern and Indian oceans.
So how are they planning to do this quite frankly barmy mission? As some of you may know, if you were to swim down these depths, you would be crushed to death due to the immense pressure. And our current crop of Submarines would even be able to reach this depth. They will also make a giant Catamaran which will be used as mission control.
The vehicle is a unique design made from 8,000 pounds of carbon fibre and titanium. The pressure at the bottom of the deepest trench is over 1,000 atmospheres - the quartz dome alone is under 13 million pounds of pressure, the weight of three space shuttles.
Designed by Graham Hawkes, it is the only piloted craft in existence that has 'full ocean depth' capability. The one-man sub has an operating depth of 37,000ft (7 miles) and is capable of operating for 24hrs unaided.
Once fully descended, the submarine's hydroplanes (the equivalent of wings for submarines) and thrusters will allow it to 'fly' up to 10km over the ocean floor whilst collecting video and data, something submersibles could only dream of. The last time this was attempted was 1960’s, in a tethered dome, their wasn’t the technology available to document this adventure, but now we have high definition cameras and sophisticated scientific equipment, it will make this the must watch event of the year.
As Sir Richard and Chris each pilot the sub to the bottom of our planet, they will be aware that should anything go wrong, there is no rescue team that can reach them; whilst backed up by a mission crew, once at depth, the pilot and craft are alone. Full pressure testing will be conducted over the next three months.
The first dive is planned for the end of 2011, and once they have met all necessary regulatory approvals.