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IPFS News Link • World News

Richard Branson Quietly Scrapped His Plan To Explore The Bottom Of The Sea

• http://www.businessinsider.com, Robert Mendick

The entrepreneur had a grand scheme to explore both space and sea. But his plan for the first rocket ship charging passengers for trips to the edge of space is in jeopardy after the craft crashed during a test flight, killing a pilot.

Now Sir Richard's dream of exploring the lowest points on Earth is also on hold.

Virgin Oceanic's DeepFlight Challenger submarine was unveiled in a blaze of publicity in April 2011, with Sir Richard describing its mission as "the last great challenge for humans".

He had hoped the 18ft-long submarine, designed to "fly" along the ocean floor, would make its maiden voyage to the bottom of the Pacific's Mariana Trench – at a depth of 36,000ft, the lowest known point on Earth – by the end of 2011, or failing that, by 2012.

It would then move on to the Puerto Rico trench at 28,000ft in the Atlantic, followed by dives in the Arctic, Indian and Southern oceans. The plan was for alternating pilots in the single-seater craft, with Chris Welsh, a sailor and explorer, taking the first dive and Sir Richard the second.


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