company founded 2009 2009 founder richard branson parent virgin group website www.virginoceanic.com virgin oceanic 1 originally virgin aquatic 2 is an undersea leisure venture of newport beach ca businessman chris welsh and sir richard branson part of sir richard branson s virgin group . the brand was first reported in a 2009 time magazine interview . 2 the flagship service provided by virgin oceanic was intended to take visitors to the deepest parts of the ocean ; however as of late 2014 the project has been put on hold until more suitable technologies are developed . 3 contents 1 fleet 2 shallow diving program 2.1 necker nymph 3 deep diving program 3.1 deepflight challenger 3.2 five dives project 3.2.1 key dates and timings 4 see also 5 references 6 external links fleet edit necker belle sailing catamaran yacht necker nymph open cockpit scuba submersible cheyenne sailing catamaran yacht deepflight challenger high depth submersible shallow diving program edit the company is offering a shallow water wet submersible graham hawkes s hawkes ocean technologies deep flight merlin named necker nymph after branson s private island in the british virgin islands virgin limited edition necker island . 1 the necker nymph uses the necker belle as its mothership . necker nymph edit main article necker nymph the shallow dive program utilizes the scuba sub necker nymph a hot deepflight merlin . it is a three place sub with two passengers and one dive pilot . all three are required to wear scuba gear . 4 deep diving program edit the company plans to launch a deep sea submersible capable of carrying its passenger to extreme ocean depths . the deep sea adventure will be supported by the 125 ft super catamaran cheyenne mothership and plans to use the hot deepflight challenger sub 5 to make dives to the depths of the worlds oceans . 6 7 both the catamaran and the submersible were formerly owned by steve fossett who had modified the racing catamaran to become the mothership for his planned oceanic dive record attempt . 6 after steve fossett s death the project went on hold until chris welsh purchased the equipment from fossett s estate and restarted the endeavor . the attempt on challenger deep was first announced in april 2011 . 8 deepflight challenger edit main article deepflight challenger this deep sea submersible currently in the construction and testing phase seats one person . 7 the company has stated that it will be able to dive to the deepest part of the ocean which has been measured to be somewhere between 10.91 kilometres 6.78 mi deep and 11.03 kilometres 6.85 mi deep . only two subs in history the bathyscaphe trieste in 1960 and deepsea challenger in 2012 have ever reached the deepest known point in the ocean at the bottom of the mariana trench . 9 10 the sub s outer casing is made of a carbon fiber composite and is designed to maximize hydrodynamics . the second level of casing holds the batteries dive tanks and all other components . the third and inner most layer is made of titanium with a quartz crystal viewing dome . instead of using ballast like a typical submersible the deepflight challenger will fly to the ocean floor using propulsion . the deepflight challenger uses a custom lithium ion battery system to power its two motors . five dives project edit over the course of 2012 and beyond virgin oceanic plans for their one person sub to journey to the deepest part of each of earth s five oceans . 11 the first dive is planned for the deepest place on the planet the bottom of the mariana trench about 11 kilometers 7 mi below the ocean s surface . this will be the third time human eyes have set sight there . this time the plan is for a sub that flies more akin to an airplane which should allow its solo pilot chris welsh to not only reach the deepest point on earth but to then fly along the bottom of the trench for up to an additional 10 kilometers 6 mi . the second dive planned to the bottom of the puerto rico trench will be piloted by sir richard branson . this trench is the deepest point in the atlantic ocean at over 8 kilometers 5 mi below sea level . this location is also near to branson s home and resort on necker island in the british virgin islands . subsequent dives will be planned to carry a human pilot to the bottom of the arctic southern and indian oceans . less than 3 % of the seafloor has been explored and none of the deepest points of the planet s oceans have ever been explored citation needed beyond a brief visit to one . the opportunities to see and learn from such dives are viewed as monumental . key dates and timings edit originally virgin oceanic s first dive was announced to be scheduled for august 2011 at the mariana trench later in 2011 and further dives were scheduled over the next 24 months . as of 20 september 2011 the research and development phase of the program has been extended due to work on design modification this will extend the testing period through the end of 2011 and move the earliest opportunity of a first dive into early 2012 . as of 21 february 2012 virgin oceanic reported successful tests of the ballast and life support systems . 12 however in june 2012 welsh described a crack in the sub s protective quartz sphere which would necessitate the sphere s replacement before any deep dives could take place . 13 by september 2012 variable buoyancy problems detected in summer testing had been resolved . 14 based on testing at high pressure the deepflight challenger was determined to be suitable only for a single dive not the repeated uses that had been planned as part of virgin oceanic service . as such in 2014 virgin oceanic scrapped plans for the five dives project using the deepflight challenger as originally conceived putting plans on hold until more suitable technologies are developed . 3 see also edit deepsea challenger a submarine and oceanographic mission to challenger deep rivalling the deepflight challenger mission references edit a b gizmag.com necker nymph underwater flying becomes virgin territory noel mckeegan 21 january 2010 accessed 25 july 2010 a b time magazine virgin founder richard branson dan fletcher 1 september 2009 a b mendick robert ; nicholls dominic 13 dec 2014 . sir richard branson quietly shelves virgin submarine plan . the telegraph . retrieved 15 dec 2014 . necker belle necker nymph accessed 27 march 2012 virgin oceanic operations team accessed 25 may 2011 a b virgin oceanic catamaran accessed 25 may 2011 a b virgin oceanic sub accessed 25 may 2011 popular mechanics q & a with graham hawkes the man who built the deep flight challenger submersible sarah fecht 8 april 2011 accessed 4 4 2012 history of the bathyscaphe trieste . http www.bathyscaphetrieste.com bathyscaphe trieste.html national geographic james cameron completes record breaking mariana trench dive ker than 25 march 2012 accessed 27 march 2012 hawkes ocean technologies infosheet deepflight challenger accessed 25 march 2012 virgin oceanic 21 february 2012 . testing the sub . retrieved 26 february 2012 . branson sponsored deep sea project faces delays . 23 june 2012 . retrieved 26 june 2012 . tests continue for virgin oceanic . 7 september 2012 . retrieved 8 october 2012 . external links edit official website strickland eliza march 2012 virgin oceanic s voyage to the bottom of the sea ieee spectrum retrieved 4 march 2012 v t e virgin group assets lifestyle active balloon flights books care casino experience days games gaming health bank pure voucher electric racing wines travel america atlantic vacations virgin australia holdings australia regional virgin samoa tigerair australia cruises galactic holidays travel city direct hotels chicago limited edition natirar necker roof gardens ulusaba limobike oceanic trains west coast east coast music megastores records virgin emi v festival money green fund money uk money australia media connect media ireland mobile uk virgin mobile australia canada chile france india poland south africa usa produced radio uk france canada toronto montreal vancouver calgary edmonton winnipeg london on italy dubai turkey jordan thailand virgin hitz eazy fm lebanon former comics festival north america festival australia heaven ou fm racing f1 radio ottawa uk radio classic groove xtreme v2 records virgin.net defunct brides cars charter cinemas digital digital help drinks cola vodka electronics energy express films interactive limousines little red megastores uk media television money us nigeria northern rock radio free sun trains crosscountry trains expresscoach vie virginware people richard branson nik powell other losing my virginity timeline of richard branson s business ventures unite charity virgin earth challenge ds virgin racing category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title virgin oceanic & oldid 714439572 categories leisure companies of the united kingdomvirgin groupcompanies established in 2009hidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2012use dmy dates from september 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages polski edit links this page was last modified on 9 april 2016 at 19 39 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view