After the debacle with the submarine Titan, the co-founder and CEO of OceanGate wants to send individuals to one of the least hospitable planets in the solar system. Needless to say, Guillermo Sohnlein seems to have been thrust into the highlights again in the wake of the submersible tragedy.
The co-founder of the company has been going through multiple questions from the media and the higher authorities about the ill-fated trip by the company to the shipwreck of the Titanic on June 18th, which killed everyone on board- which includes a former friend and colleague, Stockton Rush. According to insider reports, the sub must have imploded within a few hours of its descent, which raises multiple concerns regarding the company’s approach to safety and innovation.
Interestingly, the cofounder of OceanGate is unfazed by the massive outcry against his company and the ill-fated trip. Rather, he hasn’t let the events dampen his spirit- as he claims that humanity needs to keep pushing the boundaries if they ever want to evolve as greater beings. For this, he has set forth a plan plan to send 1000 humans to live in the atmosphere of Venus by 2050. While others might consider this plan to be foolhardy, Sohnlein is hopeful. “I think it is less aspirational than putting a million people on the Martian surface by 2050.” What makes this plan dangerous is also the fact that while Venus resembles Earth in many ways, this planet’s atmosphere isn’t ideal for humans to live in.
From The Depths Of The Seas to Outer Space- OceanGate’s Grand Plan
Even Sohnlein is in agreement with this notion. “You’re absolutely right that when you talk about going to Venus, it would raise eyebrows outside the space industry. And it even raises eyebrows inside the space industry.” NASA’s dictum on Venus stated that this is the warmest planet in the entire solar system. The atmosphere of this planet is filled with carbon dioxide, and the temperature at the surface could easily melt lead. Venus also boasts sulfuric acid rain and atmospheric pressure 75 to 100 times Earth’s.
Yet, Sohnlein believes that there is absolutely no reason why humans shouldn’t even attempt to live near this highly uninhabitable planet. In order to justify this statement, the cofounder of OceanGate has pointed to studies that claim that there is a little piece of the Venusian atmosphere just 30 miles from the surface, where theoretically humans could survive- considering the temperatures are lower and the pressure seems to be less intense.
The co-founder believes that if one could build a space station that could withstand what Venus has to offer. Nevertheless, for most of us, it might be quite difficult to find a relationship between sending a submersible to visit the Titanic shipwreck and a floating company to Venus, but the cofounder of OceanGate believes that this is just a part of his grand plan- which involves pushing humanity beyond what its natural boundaries limits it to.
Can Humanity Forget The Titan Tragedy So Soon And Trust OceanGate Again?
Sohnlein mentioned, “I think I’ve been driven to help make humanity a multi-planet species since I was 11 years old. I had this recurring dream of being the commander of the first Martian colony.” Even the submersible was just a part of the plan. Both Rush and Sohnlein “Saw underwater exploration- and especially using crewed submersibles- as the closest thing that we could do to go into space and further that vision without actually going into space.” The greater vision that the company envisioned was to build cheap crewed submersibles that individuals would be able to charter to reach the depths of the seas. Sohnlein is of the opinion that the technology used to create that would also help humanity if it ever left Earth in search of other planets.
Sohlein stated, “Forget OceanGate. Forget Titan. Forget Stockton. Humanity could be on the verge of a big breakthrough and not take advantage of it because we, as a species, are gonna get shut down and pushed back into the status quo.” Interestingly, it might actually be possible to send people to Venus. Andrew Coates, a professor of space physics from the University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory believes, “If political will and a lot of money goes into it, then I’m sure humanity could do it. I suppose the question is why do we want to do that?”
For the professor, Venus is as bad a target for humans as Mars- both consist of atmospheres that are fatal to humans. Also, one has to consider that some won’t be able to live in a cramped space for such long durations of time. What happens when they feel claustrophobic?
Is Traveling To Venus Possible And Feasible?
Interestingly, this strategy isn’t unique to OceanGate. Even SpaceX uses the same techniques- for its primary goal is to put a million people on Mars. And for that purpose, they have developed multiple reusable rockets, Starship mega rockets, and StarLink. Still, one would argue that envisioning a colony on Venus isn’t an everyday venture. But for people like Sohnlein and Rush, this ambition is what drives them, as it does for Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Sohnlein claimed, “I don’t think that should have a negative connotation because you could almost argue that it is a critical element of humanity moving forward. If we didn’t have people that think like this, we’d probably all still be in caves.”
Even if we negate all the issues that one could face and believe that Sohnlein could send people to Venus, his ambitious statement does come at a pretty bad time. Investigations are still ongoing on the tragedy that hit the Titan submersible, and public trust in the company is at an all-time low. On the other hand, Sohnlein believes that the death of the passengers shouldn’t be stopping anyone from investigating carbon fiber-hulled submersibles, which could be a way to reach the ocean depth. Despite the tragedy, humanity shouldn’t exist in stasis- rather it should push the limits of creation.
However, although OceanGate has a noble goal in its sights, the logistics are far too scattered to arrive at a conjecture that will make traveling to Venus plausible. At this point, travel to the inhospitable planet is still nothing more than a dream. Despite claiming that the 1000-person atmospheric colony could be operational by 2050, there has been no formal explanation of how exactly it can be done.
Keep Reading: Scientists Discover A Habitable Planet Where You Could Live To Age Of 3,158
Sources
- “OceanGate founder now wants to send people to least hospitable planet in the galaxy.” Indy100.
Greg Evans. July 30, 2023. - “OceanGate co-founder wants to send 1,000 people to Venus by 2050.” Interesting Engineering. Sejal Sharma. Jul 31, 2023
- Business Insider