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Super Secret Flying, Diving, Space Bound, Submersible Craft

gizmodo.com — Unbeknownst to most of the world, the late super rich adventurer Steve Fossett had started work on an amazing flying submersible that would one day theoretically touch the stars. More importantly, however, was that the design would have allowed adventurers and scientists alike to venture into the deep ocean

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 6, 2008

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  • skelliewag, on 10/05/2008, -1/+42Does it come in black?
  • thegamingguy, on 10/05/2008, -1/+29Was this designed by Q for 007?
  • leonidas333, on 10/05/2008, -0/+10So is this going to be like the panzer tank of the inevitable next world war?
  • RogerStrong, on 10/06/2008, -1/+10Well, the description is VERY misleading. It's about as realistic as a 007 movie - from the Roger Moore era.

    This is a submarine, period. It's doesn't fly - except underwater. It doesn't go into space.
  • guitarchitect, on 10/06/2008, -1/+8you sound unhappily married when you take a jab at your wife anonymously on the internet
  • thejoker86, on 10/06/2008, -0/+7you sir have problems...
  • malanic, on 10/06/2008, -1/+7Where do you get that from? Did you even read the article, or the main article that it links to?
    The 'owner' Steve Fossett died in a light plane crash, and the 'inventor' of the submersible, Graham Hawkes, is very much alive. The submersible is now owned by Fossett's estate, and it's unknown what will become of it.
    If anyone had 'died driving it' I'm sure that this little detail would have been included.
  • nitsnipe, on 10/06/2008, -0/+5Correction, this is not flying submarine, it's just a regular mini-submarine but a really good one because it's made a carbon fiber.

    Nevertheless it's still a very cool project. Steve Fossett Rest In Peace
  • Digital.Totem, on 10/06/2008, -0/+5Some people are just over achievers.
  • Virgule, on 10/06/2008, -0/+4Its easier to build a spacecraft than a submarine. Underwater involve many many times the sea level's atmospheric pressure while in space there is no such pressure at all.
  • Danby123, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3***** you.
  • drgmdp, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3*****. i'm so cancelling my order.
  • SquigglyP, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3I think people might have been reading too deeply into that quote. I doubt this was LITERALLY "Part spacecraft, part aircraft, part submarine". It's a sub that is deigned like an airplane - in that it flies below the surface in much the same way a plane flies in the air - and that it was able to withstand the pressure of great depths - in the same way that the shuttle is capable of withstanding lack of pressure in a vacuum. It wasn't actually going to be launched into space. Nor would it have flown.

    Note, I'm just taking an educated guess here, but look at the thing. That is not going to be flying, gliding or landing on it's own power or any other power, ever. It's a sub with aeronautical design applied to it. That's it.
  • SillyRabbits, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3Sorry, but that canopy doesn't look even close to being able to handle 20,000psi. I have a feeling somebody is trying to strum up a little investment money. I sense the aqua equivalent of Paul Moller's Skycar.
  • diggitygeek, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Someone's a little shaky with their math. 20,000 PSI is a bit over 1,300 atmospheres, not 15,000 as stated. I don't see how those large, flat surfaces could stand 20 kPSI. Maybe the hull is flooded and only the cockpit is at 1 atmosphere. Either that, or the whole thing's made of unobtanium.
  • pixelslinger, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Okay. We've got the flying sub. Now where's the Seaview? And the Spindrift for that matter?
  • sdellboy, on 10/06/2008, -1/+3Guitarachitect meet humour...humour meet guitararchitect....
  • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Actually Graham Hawkes did. Although THIS rendition of Deep Flight was for Steve Fosset, there were other Deep Flight's created by Graham Hawkes more than a decade earlier and as far as I know are still in service.

    And this wasn't "Super Secret" either. Any millionaire can buy their own from the Graham Hawke's Deep Flight website:
    http://www.deepflight.com/
  • hnazareth16, on 10/06/2008, -1/+3You're right. But, to be fair, the Gizmodo article is poorly worded near the end. I had to go to the Marinij article to find out that information.
  • brainflakes, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2What a load of over-hyped bull. For a start where has the "one day theoretically touch the stars" bit come from?? the ONLY connection it has with spaceships I can see is it happens to be built from a similar material to rocket nozzles. Also compare it to the designs of current deep sea submersibles, there's a reason that they look like they do (think tiny windows), that prototype looks nothing like something that could survive even nearly 36000 of pressure (unless that gigantic windscreen was made of transparent aluminium or the whole thing's filled with breathable liquid).

    Sounds more like they were toying around with some ideas for a fun sub and now Graham's making outrageous claims to get some investment money as Steve's not bankrolling it anymore.
  • rowlodge, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2its a sub thats all, just looks like it could fly.
  • HillBully, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Well it aint so "Super Secret" now, is it?
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Supercaaarrrrrrrr!
  • iericg, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Bad ASS...
  • rz8472, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2We already have something like that. It's called the Magic School Bus.
  • AgmLauncher, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1That thing looks like it would fly about as well as Rosie O'Donnell.
  • iPoul, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1How secret can it be, if its on digg ?
  • MacBookForMe, on 10/05/2008, -0/+1Miss M has approved this top secret project for Her Majesty's services:)
  • ninjarabbits, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Color should be yellow.
  • armakaryk, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1no laser cannons? not even a rail gun? buried.
  • liuite, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1they jazzed up the description with description of continuous strand of carbon fiber....another words, filament winding. by weight, graphite/epoxy has 5 times the tensile strength of steel, so naturally it would be selected for construction of such pressure vessel.
  • kingfoot, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1yaah i was confused towards that last paragraph, and why it was so casually added onto the end as if it was common knowledge, well maybe it was but i didnt know.
  • GumshoeMike, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Graham Hawkes is an outstanding engineer and innovative submersible designer.

    Below, a link to an article in Design News back in 1997 that, incidentally, includes description of Deep Flight 2 as well as the Deep Flight Challenger vehicle featured in the gizmondo piece. The print copy has CAD renderings of the vehicles, pics, etc not shown on the web:

    http://www.designnews.com/article/6191-Barnstormer ...
  • Cybermaul, on 10/07/2008, -0/+1I dunno, I'm just interested in painting red flames on it. Taht would be awesome.
  • lmf49, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1I built something like that at Burning Man last year.
  • carve, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Carbon fiber really isn't the best materiel in compression. Also, subs have to be heavy so they don't float, negating the strength to weight ratio of carbon fiber. This sub would have a slight positive buoyancy and use it's wings to stay down, but it'd still have to be pretty heavy. This would be a fun sport sub, but in the pitch black depths you really don't want to have to maintain a forward speed to keep from bumping into stuff.

    Also, I think the only pressure vessel would be the spherical canopy. Methinks that isn't carbon fiber, but acrylic or polycarbonate.
  • TEEMANOID, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Now THAT is cool.
  • earlvanze, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Yes, but will it blend?
  • CivicTV, on 08/14/2009, -0/+1Guys just block him and report.
  • Cybermaul, on 10/07/2008, -0/+1I dunno, I'm just interested in painting red flames on it. That would be awesome.
  • macattak420, on 10/06/2008, -2/+2Thats ***** awesome but when they finally get one working their gonna want to make and sell more for like 100 million (im probably really far off with that estimate)
  • kocurejd, on 10/06/2008, -1/+1sdellboy meet grammar
  • inactive, on 10/06/2008, -1/+1The Apple iVoyage?
  • inactive, on 10/06/2008, -0/+0Im confused
  • nitsnipe, on 10/06/2008, -3/+2DO NOT FUKIN CLICK THIS LINK, IT WILL LEAVE YOUR SCARRED FOR LIFE, UNLESS YOU'RE A FAN OF HAIRY GAY SEX.

    it links to meatspin, and you can guess what that stands for.

    But then again, it's the perfect thing to do to someone who you really do not like.
    http://tinyurl.com/5l89m9TRU

  • inactive, on 10/06/2008, -4/+1Same
  • sdellboy, on 10/05/2008, -7/+4Just don't my wife sit in the back, reading the map and giving directions or I'll get badly lost 1000s of feet down in some oceanic trench....
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