It looks more like the Starship Enterprise sinking in the sea – but this huge vertical vessel could be the future of ocean exploration.

Called the SeaOrbiter, the huge 51m (167ft) structure is set to be the world’s first vertical ship allowing man a revolutionary view of life below the surface.

Although currently only a prototype its inventor Jacques Rougerie thinks his international oceanographic station will soon be setting sail

more

A related concept is the "snorkel boat" - it is a boat that has its hull almost completly underwater with only a tini surface part that has merly the funcion to allow the transit of air .

It works like a submarine in snorkel mode - without necessaryly having a dive capacity .

The snorkel stabilizes the hull just below the surface where it enjoys a movement and sea sickness free ride in bumpy ocean conditions.

. . 

The snorkel boat is a seamless link between a surface ship and the captain nemo float out - which consists in a complete functional private submarine.

We had this 9m / 20 ton prototype (from the pictures above) on the anchorplace in snorkel mode when a storm came in that took down the trees along the shoreline, and made sailing yachts in the 30 foot oceangoing class call SOS  - we did not even notice the storm...

Ship to explore new frontiers of design and oceanography

The SeaOrbiter is a 12-year project designed by architect Jacques Rougerie. Building of the unique live-aboard, ocean-going vessel is set to begin later this year.

 

 

 

 

 

(CNN) -- It could be an alien spacecraft or a 21st century version of Captain Nemo's Nautilus from Jules Verne "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," but in fact it's a live-aboard, ocean-going laboratory that could be exploring the seas as soon as late next year.

Called the SeaOrbiter, the part submarine, part research vessel is the concept of French architect Jacques Rougerie. Currently the centerpiece of France's pavilion at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea, it has spent almost 12 years floating around as a mere concept. It recently completed its industrial design phase and construction is slated for October this year.

"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.

"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."

Rougerie's inspiration for SeaOrbiter comes from ocean explorers like Jacques Cousteau and the experimental Tektite underwater capsule laboratory that was used by oceanographer Sylvia Earle in 1969.

Earle is one of many vocal supporters of the SeaOrbiter project; others include former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien. The space connection doesn't stop there as SeaOrbiter has enlisted the support of the European Space Agency and other industrial organizations to help develop the technology needed for the ambitious project and its onboard systems.

Designed to drift with ocean currents, the vessel will generate the majority of its power for life-support systems and propulsion to avoid other ships and storms from renewable energy, including solar, wind and wave power, Fuchs says. A side project is underway in conjunction with EADS, the European defense and space systems conglomerate, to develop a biofuel as the ship's main power source.

"It meets the requirements of today's philosophy of sustainability," Fuchs says.

When built, the ship is expected to go to Monaco -- the same place where Jacques Cousteau began his missions.

"The larger education plan is explaining how important the oceans are in to the balance of the planet," says Fuchs.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/11/tech/sea-orbiter/

The captain nemo float out would be far more mobile and capeable to surface independence but could be operated in a similar way.

http://www.seaorbiter.com/prehome

In its nature Sea Orbiter is very similar to the Flip Ship

It is just a "permanently flipped version" with a certain degree of mobility.

Both concepts are subchapters of the "snorkel boat" which is a hull that is underwater but still connected to the surface with a "air take in" (snorkel).

Concrete Floating Structures

Surface Floating Concepts:

The axes of ocean colonization / floating real estate building lots on the water / Plate Seastead - Plate Floating Element for Ocean Colonization / Catamaran Concrete Floating Elements - Base for Ocean Living / Floating Concrete Breakwater Marina / Ocean colonization how to get there / Ramform ship island as ocean base mobile stable scaleable / small honeycomb floating concrete structures in cartagena / Seabreaks for dampening colossal ocean waves / Ocean colonization technology / Ocean colonization company / Oustanding floating concrete structures / ocean colonization general considerations / Interesting projects for ocean colonization / Aquaculture, business, trade, mininig, energy, salvage, making money afloat /

Submerged Concepts:

The captain nemo float out - seasteading / Sub movement finished - Submarine Yacht / Is submarine living space expensive? / concrete pressure vessel / Concrete submarine project / submarine yacht / concrete submarine yacht supporter club / Submerged living space bubble concept basics / Exotic Submerged Bubble Hotel / sea orbiter / Current Turbine Concrete Hull /

VISIONS
Visionary Concepts for Vessels and Floating Structures

Background

Europe’s maritime industry is at the leading edge of innovations. However, to defend this position, future challenges have to be picked up as early as possible. Many ideas for long-term maritime products and services appear quite futuristic today and are rarely systematically investigated. On the other hand, without such project-based investigation, it is difficult to identify and define the possible R&D tasks necessary before commercialisation. In times of constantly decreasing cycles of technology and increasing speeds of innovation, it is essential to work on future challenges early enough, even if they may appear visionary today.

Objectives

The project has been implemented to organise a systematic, scenario-based, pre-competitive ‘think tank’ process to increase the number of ideas for potential products, validate them and identify possible necessary R&D efforts early enough to be prepared for future needs. The scenarios, which are input for the annual ‘ideas contest’ and which are created with the help of professional users, enable a link to business reality.

The process, which will be repeated three times during the proposed NoE duration, is open for teams of students and experts from Europe’s maritime universities (annual idea contest and open call for validation experts). The definition of all concept outlines and possible R&D gaps is done based on professional market and society scenarios created in the NoE, which are the basis of the process. The results of the annual process will be presented to the maritime industry, which is invited to team up with the ‘idea-creators’ for further development by annual showcase events and will be used as input for the definition of R&D strategy of the maritime industry, linked to its actual and future European Advisory Council and technology platform structures.

The project will also provide a closer link between the European maritime universities and industry.

Business Area 1: Maritime tourism/leisure
VISIONS consortium

Description of work

The annual process (‘innovation loop’) has the following elements:

1. creation of professional market and society scenarios by a dedicated scenario group including external key user interviews
2. a ‘call for ideas’ answering the scenario challenges to student teams from the European maritime industry. The best five to seven ideas will be short-listed by the core partners and will be subject to further investigations.
3. evaluation of the short-listed tasks done according to identified tasks and by selected experts (tender process). Compilation of a comprehensive report per idea (including ‘distance to market’)
4. selection of three winners by a high-level industry jury, with an industry-sponsored contest award and the presentation of all ideas (‘showcase’).

The process is vertically structured and managed in five business areas:

• maritime tourism/leisure
• intermodal transport (short sea shipping, inland shipping, deep sea shipping)
• floating infrastructures
  
  

  and horizontally structured in seven expertise fields:

  • market/society needs
  • technical feasibility/design
  • production
  • equipment/systems
  • operation/security
  • infrastructure/logistics
  • safety/environment.

The organisation and main decisions during the project will be done by leading industrial and research core partners.

Results

The expected results are:

• systematic scenario work in all relevant business areas (‘think tank’ function)
• a greater number than today of scenario-based visionary concepts, which are discussed, presented and considered by the industry as a basis for further development work, including floating infrastructure projects
• systematic, project-based early identification of R&D needs
• closer link and practice-based co-operation between the European maritime industry and the European maritime universities, using the creative potential in an organised and business-relevant way.

VISIONS will keep European maritime industry and R&D resources at the leading edge of innovation for global competitiveness, but also contribute to the quick and sustainable solution of transport problems in Europe.

Business Area 5: Floating infrastructures
VISIONS consortium

Related Info

• Acronym: VISIONS
• Name of proposal: Visionary Concepts for Vessels and Floating Structures
• Contract number: TNE4-CT-2005-516216
• Instrument: NoE
• Total cost: 5,000,000 €
• EU contribution: 5,000,000 €
• Call: FP6-2003-Transport 3
• Starting date: 01/04/2005
• Ending date: 30/09/2008
• Duration: 42 months
• Sector: Waterborne
• Objective: Advanced Design and Production Techniques
• Research domain: Application of advanced design and manufacturing techniques (Using advanced design tools, new products and systems generation)
• Websitehttp://www.maritime-visions.eu
• Coordinator: Mr vom Baur Michael Community of EU Shipbuilders Association a.s.b.l. Rue Marie de Bourgogne 52 BE 1000 Brussels
• E-mail: michael.vomBaur@akeryards.com
• Tel: +32 (0)2 230 27 91
• Fax: +32 (0)2 230 43 32

Partners

• IMAWIS - Maritime Wirtschafts- und Schiffbauforschung GmbH DE
• Alstom Chantiers de l'Atlantique FR
• Centro per gli Studi di Tecnica Navale IT
• Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems DE
• Conoship International BV NL
• Aker MTW Werft GmbH DE
• Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute NO
• JAFO Technologie, Zweigniederlassung der Blohm+Voss international GmbH DE
• EVIMAR A/S DK
• University of Rostock DE
• Navantia S.A. ES
• Center of Maritime Technologies e.V. DE
• Rolls-Royce Power Engineering Plc UK
• Wilhelmsen Marine Consultants AS NO
• British Maritime Technology Ltd UK
• SSPA Sweden AB SE
• Ship Design and Research Centre PL
• University of Strathclyde UK
• BALance Technology Consulting GmbH DE
• Germanischer Lloyd AG DE
• WEGEMT UK
• European Oil and Gas Innovation Forum BE

With funding for Jacques Rougerie's SeaOrbiter in place, exploration of the world's deepest oceans moves a step closer

 

Enlarge

With commercial flights to space are set to start this year with the launch of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic services, in some ways the last unexplored frontier remains the world’s seas. Fewer people have explored the Mariana Trench – the deepest part of our ocean, found about seven miles (11km) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean – than have been launched into space.

Adventurous travellers eager to explore this vast unknown are a step closer to doing so with the announcement that the French architect Jacques Rougerie has secured funding for the development of SeaOrbiter, an oceanic observation vessel that will sail the world’s oceans and explore previously uncharted waters.

The momentous, towering structure owes its development to crowdfunding, with hundreds of people responding to Rougerie’s call for financial support. They are being generously rewarded for doing so, with the top 600 donors all being invited onto the vessel once it is constructed. Ordinarily SeaOrbiter will provide accommodation for a team of up to 22, who will be able to live under the surface of the sea for 24 hours a day. Academics on board will log observances and deploy a range of exploratory devices to the ocean’s depths for further data collection. Scientists have so far recorded some 240,000 marine species but estimate that there are millions more in the ocean depths that remain unobserved and unrecorded.

With 89ft (27m) of the 190ft (58m) structure above the waterline, long-term explorers on board SeaOrbiter will have some opportunities to relax in the open air. A dining room and numerous lookout posts stand in open air; below water, a pressurised space simulator will be used to prepare astronauts for space exploration.

With funding now secured, construction of SeaOrbiter is set to begin and is scheduled to be complete in about two years. While the 600 individuals who have already donated are set to be the first to stay on board, the anticipated development of further SeaOrbiter vessels should open the experience up to others. For those who don’t want to wait that long to explore beneath the water’s depths, the recently opened Manta Underwater Room in Zanzibar allows guests to comfortably observe the shoals of reef fish and octopus that populate this temperate part of the Indian Ocean. 

The big five business fields of ocean colonization: | oceanic transport | oceanic energy | oceanic real estate | deep sea mining | oceanic aquaculture |

The four fundamental quests of ocean colonization : | The quest for interference freedom | The quest for mobility | The quest for oceanic resources | The quest for space on the planet |

Taxation Assignment Help | DBMS Assignment Help | Accounting Assignment Help | HR Assignment Help Services Online | Assignment Writing Services During Covid-19 | Assignment Writing Services UK | Assignment Writing Help in UK | Corporate Accounting Assignment Help | Law Assignment Writing Help | Business Environment Assignment Help |

I am impressed by the quality of information on this website. There are a lot of good resources here. I am sure I will visit this place again soon. Betriebsrat

What a wonderful post you have written! It will come to great help! This list is very clear, precise and descriptive really! Rad Trans Thank you so much. Keep writing for us like this.:)

Wellington is the industry leader in the production of concrete driveways, and we have been offering concrete driveways to consumers for a long time. | concrete repair

ZenGlow Medical Aesthetics offers expert www.zenglowmd.ca/pages/chemical-peels" title="chemical peel">chemical peels to address acne, scars, fine lines, and uneven skin tone. Our treatments are designed to rejuvenate your skin, providing a clearer and more radiant complexion.