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The Inside Story of Virgin Oceanic's Mission To the Mariana Trench
the_newsbeagle writes "Millionaire adventurer Chris Welsh, the driving force behind Virgin Oceanic, wants to name his sub "Scarlett" after Scarlett Johansson—that's how sexy this vehicle is. Welsh plans to pilot the experimental, cutting-edge sub to the bottom of the Mariana Trench sometime this year, in what would be only the second human descent to the deepest spot in the world's oceans (the first trip down was in 1960). This inside account of the Virgin Oceanic mission describes a team fueled by ego, science, and derring-do, and explains how their high-tech sub could usher in a new kind of marine exploration. The article also tells the story of an adventure on the high seas last summer, when Welsh & co visited the trench to test some robotic deep-sea landers... and ran smack into a typhoon."
is something that was already done in 1960?
Is that carbon neutral? Why haven't I seen cars that run on ego? It's some kind of government conspiracy to keep us dependent on oil. Roswell!
Scarlett to probe deep in Virgin trenches
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Something I've always wondered about that UK company, does the adjective virgin have the same connotation in the UK as it does here?
Or is it kind of like "I need a fag" means something completely different in the UK vs US?
Do all Virgin(TM) advertisements revolve around the inside breathless account of men penetrating deeply into the never before seen trench or cave or whatever female analogy they can scare up?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
On Virgin's mission to the Mariana trench - will it be a gentle descent, or will they keep hammering the bottom?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
No, they checked already in 1960, there is nothing but bottom dwelling invertebrates there too.
somehow disappointing that in the story there are hyperlinks to various stuff, but "Scarlett Johansson" is just a plain text
I was interested in the sub's specs - the glass cockpit "dome" is apparently made of quartz. The only other subs with these kinds of domes that I've seen that can get to these depths without being crushed by the enormous pressures use some type of borosilicate glass. My understanding is the only difference between the two types of glass is the amount of silica (SiO2) in them.
Looks like a race to the bottom - I think the other company was Triton submarines that used the borosilicate glass domes. Whatever it is - it is fascinating to see the use of these materials which actually get stronger under pressure!
> No, they checked already in 1960, there is nothing but bottom dwelling invertebrates there too.
lawyer convention ?
<insert rim shot >