Normally, I don't pay attention to the private ventures of rich billionaires, but this one is a rare exception for how insane it is. According to Luxurylaunches, Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve and Steam, has recently signed a contract with the Norwegian shipbuilder company VARD to build a new research vessel for his Inkfish organization called the RV11000.
Costing roughly $815,000,000, this titanic vessel is being constructed to support submarines and map uncharted depths of the world's deepest, darkest, and most dangerous depths of the ocean.
If you're a fan of deep-sea exploration and the horrific creatures that lurk there, here's everything you need to know about the RV11000.
The RV11000 is 162 meters (or 531 feet) long and is being built to operate at ocean depths up to 11,000 meters and support up to 130 crewmates and scientists.
It's also being equipped with state-of-the-art technology and research labs for deep-sea exploration, including high-resolution seafloor mapping, four active stabilizers working in tandem with advanced station-keeping systems to help it stay in position during complicated operations involving long cables, sensitive scanners, and submersibles with crews inside them.
The RV11000 will also feature a gigantic hangar that can contain two submarines and the world's largest battery so the ship can operate for 12 hours during silent scientific endeavors.
It's not just all work and no relaxation aboard the RV11000, though. This vessel is also being outfitted with high-quality accommodations with 100% fresh-air ventilation, furniture made of premium materials, and high air quality indoors so the researchers can unwind and perform better during elongated, arduous expeditions.
The RV11000 is expected to be completed and join Inkfish's fleet of research ships in 2030.
Windows Central's take
Ever since I was traumatized by the abyssal sea monster boss, Emerald Weapon, in the original Final Fantasy 7 in the 1990s, I've had an on-and-off fascination with the abyssal depths of the ocean.
It has so many mysteries and horrifying sea creatures that we barely understand how they manage to survive under such depths without being crushed by pressure, like angler fish or giant squids.
Plus, the abyssal sea depths have so much untapped horror potential for games that's rarely been explored outside of games like the Subnautica series and SOMA.
So I was shocked to recently discover Gabe Newell also had a fascination with the ocean, to the point where he founded his own deep-sea research organization, Inkfish, in 2021 and has already dispatched a couple of research ships like the RV Hydra and RV Dagon.
I didn't think a rich billionaire like Gabe Newell would have an interest in exploring the mysteries of our planet when he has a multi-billion-dollar gaming corporation to run, but ever since 2020, the world's stopped making sense to me, so I just roll with the punches.
Either way, I hope his and his organization's efforts pay off. The abyssal sea is one of the few frontiers left on Earth we haven't explored yet, and one that deserves to be explored to its fullest so we can have a better understanding of this wondrous world we live in....and find out if we have real-life leviathans ripped straight out of Subnautica 2 living down there because giant sea monsters are awesome.
What do you think of Gabe Newell's new research vessel? Do you think his deep-sea exploration endeavors will pay off?
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