French architect Jacques Rougerie is looking to raise $48 million in order to fund an insanely awesome ocean laboratory he designed, which looks like something out of a video game or science fiction movie.
Rougerie’s vision is called the SeaOrbiter, a 190-foot tall floating laboratory inspired by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Equipped with a submersible garage and space simulator, the SeaOrbiter has been in development for almost 10 years with Rougerie focusing on figuring out how the vessel can run on a combination of solar and wind power in order to leave the oceanic ecosystems around the vessel unharmed.
Incredibly, 95 percent of the world’s oceans remain unexplored and Rougerie hopes the SeaOrbiter could act as a oceanic research hub for scientists to collect and compare data over time.
It is estimated that the SeaOrbiter would need a crew of 18 people or more to be run successfully and in a sustainable manner.
Currently, the project is raising money here: French crowdfunding site KissKissBankBank.
Rougerie hopes to be close to his goal of $48 million by the end of 2016.
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