Co-founder of Titanic submersible that imploded wants to send 1,000 people to Venus
The co-founder of OceanGate, the company that built the unregulated submersible named Titan which imploded in June 2023 during one of its expeditions to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, has revealed plans to create a colony above Venus. Yep, you read that right…
Guillermo Söhnlein, whose business partner Stockton Rush died during the fatal implosion, spoke to Business Insider about his new bizarre and highly far-fetched venture: to send 1,000 people to live in Venus’ atmosphere by 2050.
Speaking to the publication, Söhnlein stated: “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.” Yeah, you don’t say.
According to NASA, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, and I know that Earth is already burning due to the climate crisis, but trust me when I say that the planet where allegedly women come from really doesn’t scream “habitable place to live.”
Nevertheless, the OceanGate co-founder appears completely set on the idea. The businessman has allegedly found research which suggests that there is a sliver of the Venusian atmosphere about 30 miles from the surface where humans could theoretically survive because temperatures are lower and pressure is less intense.
On Venus, the air pressure is extremely powerful—90 times that of Earth, to give you an idea. It’s so intense that it’s comparable to the pressure near the bottom of the ocean. Considering Söhnlein was part responsible for the Titan tragedy, I’m surprised he’s keen to pursue another venture in which he’ll be placing humans near another pressure-cooker. Someone, please take this man’s credit card away.
Addressing the failures of the Titan expedition, the businessman stated: “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.”
The project, named Humans2Venus, definitely seems more aspirational than practical or realistic. I think the real question is, who on Earth is going to sign up to go?
