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The 'SeaOrbiter' Research Lab Is The USS Enterprise Of The Ocean

A Jules Verne fantasy drifts toward existence, riding the currents of crowdfunding.
Image: SeaOrbiter media

The incredible-looking SeaOrbiter is a sort of USS Enterprise for riding the ocean currents--to boldy go where no human has gone before and search out the 90 percent of the ocean that remains unexplored. Now the futuristic ship, designed by marine architect Jacques Rougerie, is drifting closer to being a reality after reaching its $444,632 goal on the French crowdfunding site Kiss Kiss Bank Bank.

The SeaOrbiter website is a wealth of beautiful concept drawings, including Zissou-esque cutaways that reveal how the vessel could host its crew of 18-22 aquanauts for months at a time—with labs, pressurized living quarters, a command bridge, and a fitness area. It even has space for support vessels including submarines and deeper-diving drones. The SeaOrbiter reaches 27 meters into the sky, 31 meters into the sea and receives both solar and wind power, allowing it to drift the oceans as a slow and silent 24-hour observatory.

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Image: SeaOrbiter

Almost as surprising as the fact that such a vessel could be designed and funded is how few people it took for the SeaOrbiter to reach its goal: just 664. This is explained in part by Rougerie who said they had “20 big donors and one family who highly contributed,” and also in part by the campaign having the best video of all time. Seriously, check this thing out:

I, for one, am ready to open my wallet, even though it’s empty and the campaign is over.

For Rougerie, pictured to the right courtesy of the Fondation Jacques Rougerie in his Académie française finery, the SeaOrbiter is a culmination of more than 30 years of work on underwater dwellings and research vessels built on “bionic architecture inspired by marine forms and a concern for sustainable development.” Rougerie designed an underwater village for NASA and NOAA in the early 1970s. In 1977, he built and launched his first “underwater house,” the Galathée.

Rougerie lists the influences on the SeaOrbiter, including Jules Verne, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and Jacques Piccard who, it can’t be surprising, is from the illustrious Piccard family, the nominal inspiration for the captain of the USS Enterprise.

The construction was estimated to take two years, so set aside your finest champagne (in biodegradable bottles, naturally) for a 2016-hull smashing now. The plans for the SeaOrbiter include networking it, so even the landlocked can see and hear what the SeaOrbiter does.

Make it so.