Richard Branson to prowl oceans' hadal depths in flying sub Sir Richard Branson has set his sights on conquering the world's oceanic depths in a revolutionary carbon fibre and titanium "flying" submarine. The Virgin supremo's Virgin Oceanic project will encompass five dives over the next two years to "the deepest part of each of Earth's five oceans". The submarine is described as …
I don't know why Branson comes in for so much flak when, as you say, he is investing his own money to push the boundaries of technology and engineering forward. We need to get out of this "we're shit" attitude in this country and support our innovators and visionaries, instead of bitching about them. But I guess hoi poloi are only interested in (insert name of vacuous z-list celeb here) and every minutae of their pointless lives...
Read Branson's biography. It's ace!
Suspect its more along the lines of Branson creating company X, doing service very well. Then cashing in and selling it with the Virgin brand name still attached, service goes rapidly downhill. People still assume Branson owns the company and thus a muncher when they've spent 4hrs talking to a muppet to get their issue sorted, while reading that Branson is worth £X million quid.
Would do him more favours if he sold companies minus the Virgin name
> Read Branson's biography. It's ace!
is that the one tom bower wrote? you know, the one beardie tried to ban?
btw, are you *really* sure branson is investing his own money in this vanity project? so far all we've seen about his new toy/pr wheeze is vapourware.
paris icon 'cos she hasn't gone down deep either.
Branson bleats on about 'saving the planet' yet comes up with some of the most wasteful schemes around.
F1, private space flights and now doing a Jaques Cousteau.
Is there no end to this man's one-person drive to make fuel really, really expensive and to use up resources in the most selfish way possible?
He's a fraud, not much more than a showman selling expensive and upper-class experiences that shit on the rest of us.
If you pay for even a seemingly frivolous project. You give money to people. These people learn some new skills which ultimately benefit everyone as knowledge is passed around.
The wages are used to buy goods and services which other people supply to give themselves a living. And so it trickles down the food chain.
But surely you know this?
I've been considering starting a chain of schools designed to teach students to manufacture nuclear weapons in their spare time, in the hope that this useful knowledge will, as you say, be «passed around». However, I keep running into people of little faith, who point to such discouraging factors as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other deal breakers. But given that these things are routinely ignored by both the governments that signed the treaty and those that didn't, I persist in my plans. Thanks so much for your encouragement !...
Henri
F1 may consume a host of the earth's resources but is enjoyed around the world by a peak audience of 527 million people. The technology developed is probably 2nd only to that created during a large war and has arguably greater trickle-down benefits. Petrol engines are still becoming more efficient each year thanks to F1 developed technology.
Sure he maybe a showman with questionable PR habits but really, "shit on the rest of us"? He's taken on Murdoch's SKY SHAT and provides the fasted fibre broadband of anyone. Have you flown Virgin Atlantic? Their economy class is almost as good as Air France premium economy and makes BA look like the terrible fat and lazy airline they are.
He is an example of what capitalism is capable of and who else is going to develop space tech. The UK doesn't even have a space program and the EU's is shit.
Paris - because at least she has a clue
As already commented, he's doing something extremely interesting and useful with his money.
The BBCs Blue Planet series is fascinating, I can't wait to see some of the creatures that could be down there
The amount of pressure the craft will be under is pretty scary though, as well as money the man sure has guts
Good luck Branson
Virgin Galactic and now this... yes see where you're going there. It even mentioned lasers on the sub. He doesn't live in a volcano lair on his island (fortress) does he? :-)
Seriously, good luck to him. As many others have said, at least he's doing something interesting and worthwhile with his money.
For shallow diving yes this is awsome but when I think of submarien tech I always think this new tech will let us go deeper and deeper.
The latest tech for going deeper is making the entire ships hull out of concrete which can withstand more pressure than ordinary metal can. Metal fatigue sets in a certain depths.
I've never heard of, say, an ROV with a concrete electronics pod- it's normally titanium and aluminium. Concrete seems like an odd move anyway- any trapped air bubbles would mean it just crumbled under pressure. Plus under repeated loading/unloading I can't imagine it'd be any better than a properly-designed metal shell.
Not questioning your knowledge or anything, I'm just interested in underwater tech and would like to see who's using concrete for their subs.
Dear Sir,
We are pleased to be able to tell you that you have been accepted into our Concrete RUs Hades Test Pilot Program. Our assessment team noted your positive can-do attitude and we're sure you will go far*.
Once again Congratulations!
Sincerely,
Paris Hilton CEO - CRUSH Test Pilot Program
*Well, at least 350 at any rate
Work hard, play hard - as Branson himself says, the vessel is experimental, and if anything does go wrong, there won't be much anybody can do about it.
This is a great tribute to the memory of a fellow adventurer and friend - the Bearded One shows us, yet again, how the super-rich can combine cutting-edge scientific endeavour with a sense of adventure (and, let's be honest here, fun).
Thumbs up!
Why Carbon and Titanium???
Great in terms of stiffness and strength to weight. However I would havce though weight is less of an issue in a sub (which no doubt will require ballasting with something to control buoyancy).
Are there really not materials better suited than aerospace stuff?
Just wondering - happy to be informed why these really are good choices
it sounds great on a press release.
Also, they're great under pressure- the pressure housings on deepwater equipment are pretty frequently Titanium. I guess the Carbon Fibre means they can have a good, small craft (which is important when you consider energy consumption and the like).
Buoyancy wouldn't be a problem- you'd give it a big block to make it slightly positively buoyant (in case of power failure- it just floats to the surface. As you're safely housed in a pressure housing there's no risk of the bends or explosion). Then you 'fly' the craft down using the 'wings' to generate downthrust to counteract the slight positive buoyancy.
This is a beautiful video on a big screen in full HD. I wish Branson and his team the best of luck. We are lucky that he's only of the very few (or only?) mega wealthy entrapreneur who loves pushing science and exploration further and further. Our Government does very little on this front and we should all applaud Branson. He may have an ego the size of a small planet but if that's what drives him and BRITISH science and exploration forward then we can all live with that!
GO FOR IT!
My only concern is the shape of the sub. It's more rectangular than tubular and we all know that tubes have a much greater crush depth than any other shape. But I'm sure they know what they're doing! LOL!
He's not so much moving tech or engineering forwards as reusing 20 year old tech - the original submersible was designed and made in the early 90's, not that you'd find that out from the press blurb on the whole matter and the only real upgrade is the re-enforced pressure hull added in 2005 - just check it out under its original project name of 'deep flight'
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