Haute Toys: Sir Richard Branson Unveils $17 Million Submarine

Sir Richard Branson, billionaire extraordinaire and owner of Virgin Airlines is known for his love of high adrenalin explorations and love for all things luxurious. So it was no wonder that his latest offering is a submarine developed and designed to reach where no man has reached before–the five deepest points under the world’s oceans. We told you about the plans to design this “underwater plane” more than a year ago. In actuality, it’s a single man submarine that is an effort by the maverick businessman to expand his exploration endeavors who has earlier declared his intention to promote space tourism through his company Virgin Galactic.

This cutting edge submarine, which cost a reported $17 million to build, will be operated under the banner of Virgin Oceanic brand and is said to provide invaluable data to scientists and researchers from those parts of the marine world that are yet to be charted by any human presence. According to the plan, this submarine will be used in the some of the world’s deepest trenches–Puerto Rico Trench, Mariana Trench, Molloy Deep, Diamnatina Trench, and South Sandwich Trench. As for the maiden journey of this futuristic submarine, explorer Chris Welsh will be in charge who will take it down to an expected depth of 36,000 feet in the Mariana Trench later in this year. The adventure-loving Sir Richard Branson will be the second pilot for this submarine in its second journey which is scheduled to go down 28,000 feet in the Puerto Rico Trench.

[Source:  EliteChoice]