Ocean Exploration

Fish farming is the world's fastest growing food production method and is projected to continue rising to meet the demands of an increasing world population. ESA's new Aquaculture project will support sustainable aquaculture by developing an information service based on state-of-the-art remote sensing.

Satellites can provide a wealth of data on waves, sea-surface temperature and ocean colour - all highly useful for planning where to establish new fish farms.

Sir Richard Branson, American sailor, pilot and explorer Chris Welsh, and submarine designer Graham Hawkes has launched Virgin Oceanic, a project to explore "the last frontiers of our own Blue Planet: the very bottom of our seas."

The project includes a partnership with Google: "Using their mapping technology, Google hopes to chronicle the dives as they happen and share discoveries, footage and record breaking achievements with the world."

For more than four decades, scientists have foregone a few creature comforts for a first-hand look at the ocean's depths. On a typical dive in the storied research submersible Alvin, a pilot and two scientists climb through a narrow hatch into an equipment-filled, 6-foot-diameter titanium sphere. Once sealed inside, they have no room to stand up, no seats, and no bathroom. For up to eight hours, they sit on thin pads on the floor and peer out windows, or viewports, the size of teacup saucers. The pilot drives while perched on a small metal box.

Virgin Limited Edition enters the underwater world, welcoming Necker Nymph, a DeepFlight three-person aero submarine. Likened to an underwater aircraft, this open cockpit winged sub is the first of its kind to hit the market - would Sir Richard Branson want it any other way?

Designed and built by renowned engineer, Graham Hawkes, of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, Necker Nymph represents a new class of high-performance, positively buoyant vehicles which safely extend the overall capabilities of scuba, while offering the unique experience of underwater flight. Unlike all conventional subs which use ballast to sink in the water, Necker Nymph uses downward 'lift' on the wings to fly down to depth.

This was my first Deepworker flight since last year, and I was pleased that flying the submersibles came back similar to skiing or riding a bicycle. We have been planning the science and operational metrics for this expedition for many months now, and it was both fun and exciting to get back into the water and execute the plan for real. I was constantly marveling at how cool it was to be seeing things that human eyes have never seen before, like exploring Mars or time warping back to pre-Cambrian oceans with today's technology. [More at Pavillion Lake Research Project]