This fantastic craft looks almost like an alien spacecraft, or a maritime version of Star Trek's USS Enterprise!
SeaOrbiter is a unique vessel. It is much more than the world's first vertical ship. SeaOrbiter will be constructed with the sole aim of exploring the world's oceans.
It is a scientific laboratory that will give researchers opportunity to explore the secrets of our oceans.
Finally, after spending almost 12 years floating around as a mere concept, construction is scheduled for October this year and the SeaOrbiter will launch next year.
Designed to drift with ocean currents, it will also have an onboard power supply to avoid collisions and storms generated by renewable energy. Image credit: SeaOrbiter
| "All technical issues are resolved, all the modeling is done," says Ariel Fuchs, education and media director of the SeaOrbiter project. "We gathered institutional and industrial support five or six years ago and it's been a real institutional and financial project for the last two years. It is expected to cost around $43 million and when built, will be 58-meters in height, taller than Nelson's Column, a monument in London. When launched, around 50% of the vessel will be below the water line, allowing for constant underwater study, Fuchs says. SeaOrbiter would become an essential tool in exploring the world's oceans and an useful base to study the link between global warming and the oceans, which absorb about a quarter of all carbon emissions. |
Seaorbiter will have room for around 18 scientists to live and study the ocean. Image credit: SeaOrbiter
"One of the first users will be the science community," he says. "It's designed to explore the ocean in a new way, mainly spending time under the sea, giving people the opportunity to live under the sea for a very long time, to observe, to undertake research missions, like marine biology, oceanography and climate issues."
SeaOrbiter is designed by the French architect Jacques Rougerie, who was inspired by ocean explorers like Jacques Cousteau and the experimental Tektite underwater capsule laboratory that was used by oceanographer Sylvia Earle in 1969.
When built the vessel will be 58 meters in height with around 50% of it underwater. Image credit: SeaOrbiter
It is also completely sustainable with the craft's power coming from solar, wind and wave power. Although it is designed to drift with ocean currents, EADS, the European defense and space systems conglomerate, are rumored to be working on a biofuel to serve as an alternative power source.
The cost of building the ship is estimated to be around $43. Image credit: SeaOrbiter
Space agencies have already showed interest in the project. SeaOrbiter has drawn support from former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and the European Space Agency as well as other industrial organizations which are expected to help develop the vessel's systems.
SeaOrbiter is the next generation of ocean exploration vessels. It would seem that the day when humanity will be able to truly explore the oceans is finally approaching...
@ MessageToEagle.com
Replies
Actually the Extraterrestrials have said the there is lot in the oceans that the inhabitants of this Planet have not discovered