Gabe Newell, the head of Steam and Valve, has joined a shipyard to finance a high-end vessel. He intends to share the research data with the world for free.
What exactly does Gabe Newell do? Gabe Newell is known as a billionaire and co-founder of Valve, the company behind Steam. Now the English article from Luxurylaunches reports that Newell has joined the Dutch shipyard Oceanco.
Oceanco specializes in building luxurious megayachts. Newell is planning a new, special project there: a high-end explorer ship with a budget of around 300 million USD. Converted, that is about 256 million Euros.
A Luxury Ship for Ocean Exploration
What is Newell’s project? So far, the shipyard Oceanco is primarily known for very expensive luxury yachts. Here, Newell has now become a new stakeholder. And he has already presented a goal: Newell wants to have a specially equipped explorer yacht built, which is technically advanced and suitable for expeditions.
- The ship is to be largely autonomous and capable of operating at a high level of comfort and safety.
- This is one of the largest and most expensive projects the shipyard has undertaken so far.
- The focus of the yacht is on exploration and adventure, rather than pure luxury.
- The approximately 111-meter-long ship is designed for scientific research and expeditions, accommodating around 70 scientists who can conduct month-long missions.
What goals are there? The ship is primarily intended for the exploration of the oceans, especially in remote and hard-to-reach areas such as the deepest ocean trenches. Unexplored seabeds are also to be mapped. Other points mentioned include studies on marine biodiversity and the discovery of new species. Furthermore, there is an intention to advance maritime environmental protection and advocate for sustainable use of the oceans. This is reported by Pressmare.it in its German-language press release.
Regarding the collected research data, it is planned to systematically gather and analyze it for scientific purposes, and make it available to the public for free.
However, it can be much more expensive than 300 million USD: the most expensive yacht in the world belongs to the richest man in Malaysia. But the special feature is not the price, but the material from which it is said to be made. However, no one knows if the yacht really exists, as no one has seen it in public: The most expensive yacht in the world does not belong to Bezos or Zuckerberg: It costs 4.8 billion and is made of gold and dinosaur bones
