#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE UPDATE#
#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE FULL#
#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE CRACK#

The Cheyenne yacht was to have been used as the mothership for the dive efforts. Richard Branson and Chris Welsh of Virgin Oceanic planned on using DeepFlight Challenger to reach the deepest point of each of the world's five oceans, the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean (11,034 m or 36,201 ft), the Puerto Rico Trench of the Atlantic Ocean (8,605 m or 28,232 ft), the Diamantina Trench of the Indian Ocean (8,047 m or 26,401 ft), South Sandwich Trench of the Southern Ocean (7,235 m or 23,737 ft), and Molloy Deep of the Arctic Ocean (5,608 m or 18,399 ft). See also: Virgin Oceanic § Five Dives project Submerged battery and engine testing, while manned. February 2012 Alameda Naval Air Station (Oakland, California, US) Ballast system was tested. November 2007 cancelled tests, in the wake of Steve Fossett's death.

#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE CRACK#

Passed test, except for a crack in the viewdome due to a manufacturing defect. Test program May 2007 Penn State Applied Research Laboratory Building Pressure test of the pressure hull to Mariana Trench like pressures. Challenger represents the third generation of DeepFlight technology, one generation behind the DeepFlight Super Falcon. The sub is smaller than James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger. The pressure hull is rated to withstand 140 MPa (20,000 psi) (more than the 110 MPa (16,000 psi) at the bottom of the Mariana Trench).

#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE FULL#

The design drew from DeepFlight II, another Hawkes Ocean Technologies full depth submersible. The sub can dive to the bottom of the ocean and get back to the surface in 5 hours. It uses LED lighting instead of arc lights, and has laser 'feeler' beams to aid navigation. It has a 15-nautical-mile (28 km) range, 6 knots (11 km/h) maximum speed, and 3-axis freedom of motion. The sub weighs 3,600 kilograms (8,000 lb), and does not need a dedicated mothership. The submersible does not have a temperature control system for the cabin, so interior temperature eventually falls to water temperature. Without ballast attached, the sub is positively buoyant, it uses syntactic foam for buoyancy. The sub has a 24-hour endurance, 3 knots (5.6 km/h) bottom speed, and 110 m/min (350 ft/min) dive rate. The interface between dome and hull is by bonded titanium rings. The viewdome is made from quartz, while the rest of the pressure hull uses carbon/epoxy composites. The submersible uses composite technology to create a lightweight sub with great depth capabilities. Its carbon fiber design would later influence the tube for the sub Titan, it is believed that the sub imploded due to the carbon fiber hull failing. This sub is the first deep-diving sub to be constructed with a pressure hull (central tube portion) of carbon fibre composite, built by Spencer Composites for HOT. At the time of Fossett's death, the sub had been almost finished, only four weeks from dive tests and delivery. Virgin Oceanic came in as sponsors a year later in 2011. Welsh had purchased the sub and the yacht Cheyenne from the Fossett estate for around $1 million. The project was put on hold when Fossett died, and locked up in a warehouse at Hawkes Ocean Technologies, by the then owners, Fossett's estate, but was later revived when Chris Welsh of Deep Sub LLC bought the unfinished sub and restarted the program in 2010. It was to have been a 'secret project' of Fossett's to be the first to solo the Challenger Deep, and was secret at the time of his death in 2007. At the time of the order, this would have doubled the depth that a single-place sub would be capable of going. The craft was named Challenger by Fossett after the Challenger Deep. It was put on the ordersheet in 2005, with a depth capability of 11,000 metres (37,000 ft). Planning for the submersible started in 2000. It was originally ordered by Steve Fossett for an attempt on the Challenger Deep, to become the first solo dive there. The submersible was designed by Graham Hawkes and Hawkes Ocean Technologies (HOT). The submersible is owned by Virgin Oceanic.

Utilizing DeepFlight technology from Hawkes Ocean Technologies. ( August 2015)ĭeepFlight Challenger is a one-person submersible built with the intention of reaching the Challenger Deep.

#DEEPFLIGHT PERSONAL SUBMARINE UPDATE#

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Deepflight personal submarine