OceanGate Co-founder to continue deep-sea exploration, wants to safely send humans to Venus

Tuesday, June 18, marked one year since the Titan submersible disaster, which resulted in the death of all five explorers who were en route to the Titanic's wreckage. Those killed included Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush, the co-founder of OceanGate, which operated the experimental submersible.

OceanGate co-founder to continue explotartions

While the Titan submersible implosion, which many experts say was an avoidable disaster, has dealt a major blow to deep-sea exploration, the co-founder of OceanGate remains upbeat. Guillermo Sohnlein, who co-founded OceanGate with Rush in 2009, has declared that he will continue to pursue new perilous deep-sea exploration projects.

Also read: Oceangate Co-Founder Responds To Titanic Director James Cameron's Criticism

File Image

Why OceanGate was founded

Sohnlein told The Sun that he and Rush had founded OceanGate because they were "driven by this need to explore" and "came across this world of human submersibles, using technology to take humans into an extreme environment here on Earth, basically going underwater into the deep pressure of the ocean." According to Sohnlein, his goals have not been dampened; instead, the disaster has inspired him to continue his efforts exploring deep oceans.

"The exploration community is a little bit strange in that we go in knowing that there are going to be risks, we know there are going to be setbacks, and when setbacks do occur, instead of deterring... it seems to motivate explorers to continue forward and continue with their pursuit," he said.

Reuters

Sending humans to Venus

Earlier this year, the Argentinian-born businessman also claimed that humans can ¡°safely¡± be sent to habituate Venus and overcome its various inhospitable challenges. Sohnlein claimed that by utilizing "breathing apparatus and acid-resistant materials," humans can adapt to the planet¡¯s atmosphere.

Also read: OceanGate Is Apparently Hiring Already

CNN

Why Venus

¡°The reality is that Venus is much closer to Earth and has a much more similar orbit, which makes it much more accessible than Mars (lower cost, more frequent flight windows, shorter transit times, higher safety, etc.),¡± he said. Sohnlein also held that NASA could send humans to Venus before Mars¡ªdespite astronauts having never traveled physically further than the Moon.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.