Virgin Oceanic Designs New One Person Submarine

Virgin Oceanic’s new submarine will carry one crewmember, weighing in at 8,000 lbs. the sub is designed to dive to depths of 37,000 feet (7 miles), while cruising at between 2.2 and 3 knots. It can descend or ascend at a rate of 350 feet per minute, and provides life support for up to 24 hours. It is made with the latest in composite technology and a completely unique flying wing to literally fly within the ocean environment. Adventurer Steve Fossett had intended to complete the first solo dive to the depths of the Mariana Trench. Sir Richard’s, a close friend and fellow explorer of Fossett commissioned the sub in an effort to finish what Fossett set out to accomplish. The vehicle is a unique design constructed from carbon fiber and titanium. The pressure in the ocean is 14.7 pounds per square inch for every 33 feet we descend. At the bottom of the deepest trench ambient pressure exceeds 1,000 atmospheres. The sub is equipped with a quartz dome that will need to withstand 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. 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 while collecting video and data. At these depths, each individual part of the sub must be able to withstand enormous pressures, 1500 times that of an airplane, and protect its pilot from the extreme conditions just inches away. A dive to the bottom of the Marianna trench and back is estimated to take about five hours. The mission of the sub over the course of the next several years will be to explore the deepest parts of the Earths five oceans. Piloted by Chris Welsh, co-founder and pilot, the first in the series of dives will be to the Mariana Trench at a depth of 7 miles. The second dive will be piloted by Sir Richard Branson, who will pilot the sub to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, a depth greater than 5 miles. Following these dives, pilots will explore the Indian, Southern, and Arctic ocean seafloors.