Posted on 01/29/2010 12:09:49 AM PST by Stoat
EXCLUSIVE
Submergin' Atlantic
Plane sailing ... Branson's submersible 'plane'
The Virgin Atlantic boss hopes the submarine with fighter jet technology will explore unchartered depths at 35,000ft
The £415,000 carbon fibre prototype Necker Nymph will swoop 130ft under the surface but Sir Richard, 59, is building a stronger version to go deeper than any sub has ever been.
Sir Richard said: "It is very similar to an airplane flying in the sea. You can literally do loop-the-loops."
It could eventually reach the Mariana Trench, believed to be the world's lowest spot in the Pacific Ocean.
US company Hawkes built the 15ft "winged" sub which has three 360-degree view cockpits and is steered like a plane with a joystick.
Film director James Cameron used one of their subs to look for underwater inspiration for his 3D blockbuster Avatar.
Sir Richard - who last month unveiled the world's first commercial spaceship - told The Sun the sub will be based at his private Necker Island.
He plans to use it to take holidaymakers on underwater trips.
He said: "We hope to have submarines dotted throughout the world.
"A pressurised submarine is nearly completed. But the real challenge is to explore what's going on at the bottom of the oceans."
“The Virgin Atlantic boss hopes the submarine with fighter jet technology will explore unchartered depths at 35,000ft”
Uncharted
With the pressure that goes along with that depth, if something were to happen there won't be anything left of the "black box".......let alone retrieving it.
Go for private enterprise. Just keep your hands out of my tax pockets.
Were it even remotely possible, it would take a nation state budget to build one of those things. Considering the pressures involved, it would probably be more expensive than a space shuttle (complete with boosters and launch set-up).
Tourism? Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea?
Not in our lifetimes, I reckon.
Good way to smuggle drugs...if you can keep the USN sonars off of you.
It seems that others have had your idea as well....I suppose it will never be known how successful they are, but it seems many of them have been caught.
Going extremely deep appears to be beyond the scope of these, however.
drug submarine - Google Search
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