Despite the recent Titan submersible tragedy that killed five people, the co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions remains undeterred, and his latest ambitious goal is to establish a floating colony on Venus and have 1,000 humans living there by 2050.
According to The Insider, the cofounder of OceanGate Expeditions has been grappling with questions about the company’s ill-fated trip to the Titanic shipwreck on June 18, which killed five people, including former colleague and friend Stockton Rush.
The sub is thought to have imploded within hours of its descent, raising concerns about OceanGate’s approach to innovation and safety. Shnlein hasn’t let the recent events dampen his ambition and claims humanity needs to continue pushing the limits of innovation.
He maintains his plan is not as crazy as it seems. “I think it is less aspirational than putting a million people on the Martian surface by 2050,” he told Insider.
However, OceanGate is not Shnlein’s only venture. The businessman’s latest, and possibly the grandest endeavor is to send 1,000 humans to live on Venus’ atmosphere by 2050.
Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate alongside Stockton Rush in 2009 but later stepped away in 2013, told Insider there’s a sliver of the Venusian atmosphere about 30 miles from the surface where humans could theoretically survive.
Söhnlein said he envisions developing a floating colony that can withstand Venus’ hostile atmosphere, including the sulfuric acids present in the planet’s clouds, which are among the elements that currently render it inhospitable to humans, according to the publication.
“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,” said Söhnlein on the Insider.
Though it’s often called “Earth’s twin,” Venus doesn’t seem like the ideal place for humans to thrive. Even Shnlein agrees. “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,” said the co-founder.
Söhnlein said that OceanGate was a dream he sought out when he was young. ” Rush and I both 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.” said Söhnlein.
“I am not an engineer or a scientist, but I have ultimate faith in the abilities of both. Therefore, I always figured that they would be able to overcome the myriad challenges facing us in the extreme space environment.” Söhnlein, who is also the founder and chairperson of Humans2Venus, wrote on a blog post in February.
However, he did not provide a solution for how this envisaged space station, designed for up to 1,000 colonists, would effectively handle Venus’ characteristic hurricane-force winds, which can reach speeds of 224 miles per hour. “It is aspirational, but I think it’s also very doable by 2050,” said Söhnlein.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Eunice Anyango Oyule and Judy J. Rotich
