This.
Boat.
Rocks.
At 300 metres long by 60 metres high it’s bigger than the Titanic.
It runs on an exciting new breed of nuclear reactor, packs the latest quantum computer,
and its luxury bunks are graced by the brightest minds and richest industrialists on the planet.
It’s mission?
Nothing short of saving the world.
But how?
Join us today as we weigh anchor for a voyage aboard the first atomic superyacht.
There’s never been a ship like Earth 300.
Rocking the sensuous lines of a couture stiletto, on the colossal scale of a cruise liner, it’ll
be a triumph of ambition over ordinaryness when it sets sail from an as-yet unnamed shipyard
in four years’ time.
Designed by superyacht veteran Ivan Salas Jefferson, Earth 300 will ferry 450 wide-eyed
adventurers across the seven seas, serving as a novel blend of research vessel, deluxe
pleasurecraft and floating intellectual salon.
Because radical as the design is – this cantilevered observation deck, that glassy
spherical superstructure – Earth 300’s role is truly revolutionary.
Founder and CEO Aaron Olivera found his calling in avant garde cruise ships on a trip to the
Maldives back in 2015.
Taking time out from his day job, developing upmarket tourist resorts, Olivera went scuba
diving and was heartbroken to see man-made bleaching of coral reefs at first hand.
Realising in a flash that ‘the world does not need another resort’, he set himself
the challenge of working to galvanise civilisation in the fight against climate change.
Olivera envisaged an iconically beautiful floating science hub where cutting-edge experiments
by the world’s most ingenious researchers took place in a super-prime luxe environment.
How could such a craft be funded?
By wealthy tourists, Olivera’s everyday stock in trade.
And he’s gambling that the well-heeled will fall over themselves for a chance to vacation
in the presence of scientific greatness as soon as 2025.
That’s what this mildly sinister orb on the back is all about, by the way – a thirteen
story science block, comprising 22 state-of-the-art laboratories carrying out cutting-edge research
in disciplines as diverse as climate science, AI, medicine and marine biology.
Kitted out, naturally, with the latest gear like 3D printers for crafting bespoke instruments.
A fleet of underwater vessels tucked into its slender hull will help 160 scientists
gather data, while one of the first working quantum computers – certainly the first
oceangoing model – will crunch the numbers.
International media, the theory goes, will be so transfixed by this searfaring faculty
it’ll help inspire a wave of bold thinking on climate change.
The buzz will spread, as breakthrough after breakthrough is shared with individuals and
institutions via Earth 300’s generous open-source data-sharing model.
But the ship’s complement won’t be just white-coated nerds frowning at test tubes.
Bankrolling each voyage will be 40 or so high-rollers, shelling out $3 million apiece for the privilege
of a ten day cruise in Earth 300’s opulent suites, each with a plush balcony.
There’ll even be separate cabins for rich travellers’ entourage and staff.
A more modest class of lucky VIPs – or ‘Very Interesting People’, as Earth 300’s breathless
press release puts it – will ride along for free.
Olivera’s aspiration is for artists, activists, explorers, economists and students alike to
take their place at the dining table alongside resident boffins and billionaires.
Imagine Greta Thunberg hobnobbing with the Obamas while Elon Musk gets the drinks in.
That’s the vibe, anyway, with designer Ivan Salas Jefferson hoping his diverse guests,
thrown together in such a swish setting, will collectively become nothing less than ‘alchemists
of global solutions’.
Aside from Earth 300s raft of experiments – perhaps not so different from the sort
you’d find on the International Space Station – the ship itself will represent a giant
leap forward in marine architecture.
Quantum computing at sea is an ambitious enough prospect in itself.
But the vessel’s power plant – a so-called ‘Molten Salt Reactor’ – will be a game-changer
if they pull it off.
Seen by some – not least Bill Gates-financed firm TerraPower – as a potentially revolutionary
technology, Molten Salt Reactors promise safe nuclear energy for power-hungry self-contained
applications.
Like big fancy ships.
The Molten Salt Reactor has few moving parts, and produces almost no spent fuel, making
it far safer than conventional atomic power plants.
It also, helpfully, works under normal, ambient atmospheric pressure.
This means many tonnes of bulky extraneous nuclear hardware can be ditched.
If Olivera and his team successfully manage just this one aspect of their scheme, it’ll
serve as an eye-catching proof of concept and inspire desperately needed decarbonisation
across the maritime economy.
Which, for reference, presently accounts for well over a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions
every year.
So how excited should we actually be?
Critics say Earth 300’s onboard quantum computer isn’t worth the hassle.
Especially now, when high-speed satellite connections and remote data centres offer
more than adequate processing power at significantly lower cost.
The notion that any government would approve of a civilian boat with a nuclear reactor
aboard is also a bit fanciful.
New Zealand, for one, out-and-out banned nuclear powered craft docking back in 1984.
Laboratories of course need frequent restocking, a time-consuming logistical headache on a
ship that’ll presumably earn much of its living on faraway sojourns.
Earth 300s maiden trip, since you ask, is a deluxe circumnavigation of Antarctica.
Other skeptics cock a snook at Olivera’s ambitious timescales.
His project has some daunting engineering hurdles to clear in under five years.
And there’s the cost, which Olivera’s team reckons will be no more than $700million
but experienced nuclear hands think is closer to $3 billion.
Still, legit backers like IBM have tentatively aligned themselves with the mission.
And with basically every single climate scientist screaming that the time for action is now,
such big ticket out-of-the-box thinking should probably be encouraged.
As the garrulous Aaron Olivera himself puts it:
‘We are living at a pivotal moment in human history, facing the greatest challenge to
civilisation since the dawn of humankind.’
‘We believe scientists deserve to be treated like rock-stars – because they are.
‘Imagine an object that galvanises people around the planet… capturing people’s
attention but also their hearts and imaginations.
‘Where we come together and solve problems… a place to dream and dare.’
Now there’s a man with boatloads of ambition.
What do you think?
Will the answer to solving climate change be found dressing up vital research as a thirsty
instagram flex?
Do let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to hit subscribe for more shipshape
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