# Branson plans to "fly" to the bottom of the Marianas Trench? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922 "2011-11-05T02:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/1 "2011-11-05T02:13:59Z")
Richard Bransons latest venture is to “fly” to the deepest spots in each ocean in something that looks pretty much like the famous bond Lotus submarine: [http://news.discovery.com/adventure/flying-sub-to-plumb-ocean-depths-110406.html](http://news.discovery.com/adventure/flying-sub-to-plumb-ocean-depths-110406.html) > **[Graham Hawkes Talks Deep Flight Challenger](https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/design/a6710/questions-for-graham-hawkes-the-man-who-built-the-deep-flight-challenger-submersible/)** > > Billionaire adventurer Richard Branson recently announced his plans to go to the deepest parts of the ocean in the one-man submersible Deep Flight Challenger. PM spoke with the man behind the Deep Flight Challenger, Graham Hawkes. Apparently the Deep Flight Challenger is made from advanced composite materials, doesn’t work by ballast but instead has wings providing “down force” to descend and only weighs 8000 pounds. It’s also going to be at surface atmospheric pressure inside… The Trieste bathyscaphe weighed 51 tons in comparison. Does any of this remotely make any sense? Has materials science advanced that much where something that can withstand the pressure at the bottom of the Marianias Trench can be made that small and lightweight? And it obviously needs to keep moving in order to generate downforce, doesn’t look like that thing can carry much fuel? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/2 "2011-11-05T03:05:55Z")
I will not say it…I will not say it…I will not say it… For how long? _goddammit_ ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/3 "2011-11-05T03:45:22Z")
“16,000 pounds [of pressure] per square inch” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/4 "2011-11-05T03:53:43Z")
It has a website [here](http://www.virginoceanic.com/vehicles/submersible/) that says it’s made of carbon fibre and titanium and has a quartz dome. It also maxes out at 3 knots, so it probably doesn’t use a lot of fuel. I think the thing to look at would be the sphere. The Trieste actually _displaced_ 51 tons. I can’t find out it’s weight, but it was mostly just ballast and a 2 meter sphere for the people to ride in. It carried 22,000 gallons of gasoline for ballast. At 6 pounds per gallon, that’s 66 tons of weight alone. Ignoring all the ballast, Trieste’s sphere weighed 13 metric tons and had room for two people, while the sphere in Branson’s vehicle only needs room for one. I can’t explain it, but it was designed for the sole purpose of diving to the ocean floor and I assume they did their homework, so there must have been a lot of improvement on the sphere. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/5 "2011-11-05T06:11:59Z")
The OP article was written months ago and says the craft will go to the Pacific Trench in “late 2011”. Has it happened yet? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/6 "2011-11-05T06:20:27Z")
[Here is a website about the project](http://www.virginoceanic.com/). I have to wonder if there’s some kind of joke playing out. According to the site, the sub’s support ship is a big catamaran sailboat. Also, it notes they are working on some redesign and will not do their first dive until early 2012. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/7 "2011-11-05T08:41:15Z")
here’s the details on the sub: [http://www.virginoceanic.com/vehicles/submersible/](http://www.virginoceanic.com/vehicles/submersible/) " the quartz dome alone is under 13 million pounds of pressure, the weight of three space shuttles." ??? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/8 "2011-11-05T10:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=Fubaya;] The Trieste actually _displaced_ 51 tons. I can’t find out it’s weight, but it was mostly just ballast and a 2 meter sphere for the people to ride in. It carried 22,000 gallons of gasoline for ballast. [/QUOTE] The gas was for flotation. It used iron weights for ballast. When floating weight=displacement. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/9 "2011-11-05T11:09:34Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I > I think the thing to look at would be the sphere. The Trieste actually _displaced_ 51 tons. I can’t find out it’s weight, The wiki on the sphere of the trieste claims the sphere alone weighed 13 metric tons and was 5 inches thick steel. It looks like the pressure hull on the Deep Flight Challenger submersible is not spherical, plus it’s got a huge “quartz” window. [http://www.deepflight.com/Infosheet1DeepFlIght%20Challenger.pdf](http://www.deepflight.com/Infosheet1DeepFlIght%20Challenger.pdf) are modern composites that good? ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/10 "2011-11-05T11:30:29Z")
What I want to know is where they find virgin test pilots. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/11 "2011-11-05T13:38:28Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Does any of this remotely make any sense? Has materials science advanced that much where something that can withstand the pressure at the bottom of the Marianias Trench can be made that small and lightweight? Why not? Deep-sea fish aren’t all spherical and weighing many tons - in fact, thin and fragile seems to be \*de rigueur \*there. It’s the 1 atm pressure inside that gets me… ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/12 "2011-11-05T15:29:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Why not? Deep-sea fish aren’t all spherical and weighing many tons - in fact, thin and fragile seems to be \*de rigueur \*there. It’s the 1 atm pressure inside that gets me… yes exactly, we can make unmanned ROV’s small and light because they don’t have a pressure hull, everything is open to the sea and designed to take the stress directly AFAIK. the giant glass canopy and “it’s normal one atmosphere inside” is exactly what I’m asking about. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/13 "2011-11-05T15:37:40Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The wiki on the sphere of the trieste claims the sphere alone weighed 13 metric tons and was 5 inches thick steel. It looks like the pressure hull on the Deep Flight Challenger submersible is not spherical, plus it’s got a huge “quartz” window. The Trieste had a spherical hull 6.5 ft in diameter. The hull of the Deep Flight Challenger appears to be cylindrical with hemispherical ends, and barely large enough for one person to crawl into. Not only is it much smaller, but it’s a pretty strong shape. ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/branson-plans-to-fly-to-the-bottom-of-the-marianas-trench/601922/14 "2011-11-06T03:43:49Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I will not say it…I will not say it…I will not say it… > > For how long? > > _goddammit_ LOL! 😛