Sometimes I need to pay more attention; in my last post I mentioned nothing of its intended message. What I meant to discuss was one of the latest endeavors of professional billionaire Richard Branson. As if space travel wasn't enough, he has recently formed Virgin Oceanic, dedicated to exploring the deepest of the seas. If successful, the craft (above) will be able to "fly" up and down through the ocean layers and dive deeper than any current submersible. This is a huge step from the previous record holder, the bathyscaphe Trieste, which could neither steer nor propel itself forward. The goals of the project are to provide new research and exploration opportunities and to pave the way for more advanced vehicles with sample taking equipment in the future. For current missions, unmanned camera pods will drop to the sea floor to film the sub and take samples. At the end of each expedition the pods will drop their weights and float to the surface. And I think that is nifty
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