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Inside the 300m science exploration vessel complete with a "science sphere" and 22 onboard laboratories

A 300-metre science exploration vessel packed with green technology, a “science sphere”, and the capacity to hold more than 400 people on board has been revealed.

Penned by Iddes Yachts , Earth 300 is described as a vessel “that will unite science and exploration to confront earth’s greatest challenges," by Iddes Yacht founder Ivan Salas Jefferson.

The vessel will act as an extreme technology platform for science, exploration and innovation at sea, incorporating robotics, AI and 22 state-of-the-art on board laboratories.

“The ship will introduce features found on cruise, expedition, research and luxury yachts but she will be none of them,” said Earth 300 chief executive Aaron Olivera.

Featuring naval architecture by NED, Earth 300 will be emission-free and powered by Molten Salt Reactors, which provide sustainable, clean energy.

Other features include a science city housed inside a huge sphere, an observation deck, a 46-metre beam and an interior dedicated to scientific research and expedition. The vessel will also carry a selection of advanced underwater vehicles.

Accommodation will be for a total of 160 scientists, 20 experts-in-residence, 20 students, 40 VIP guests and 165 crew.

Led by chief executive Olivera, the Earth 300 project is supported by a number of partners including IBM, RINA, Triton Submarines and EYOS Expeditions.

The preliminary vessel design and naval engineering are now complete, with Earth 300 projecting a launch date of 2025.

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This Nuclear-Powered Superyacht Is Longer Than the Titanic and Costs $700 Million

By Dan Avery

A nuclear-powered gigayacht longer than the Titanic, with 22 state-of-the art laboratories and a 13-story “science sphere,” might sound like the floating headquarters of a criminal mastermind. But Earth 300 is actually a revolutionary exploration vessel designed to investigate climate change and other challenges that face our planet. Designed by naval architect Iván Salas Jefferson, founder of Iddes Yachts, the 300-meter vessel has a radically aerodynamic look. It’s been envisioned as an “extreme technology platform,” incorporating robotics, AI, and quantum computing to attract the best and brightest minds from a wealth of fields. A Davos on water, if you will.

Such a bold vision doesn’t come cheap—right now the price tag for the ship, being constructed by Polish naval architecture firm NED, hovers between $500 and $700 million. Designed to resemble Earth, the orb’s “science city” will house top climate scientists, who will use the ship’s state-of-the-art tech to develop innovative solutions.

The vessel is designed to house top climate scientists.

“We wanted to create a design that would inspire,” Salas Jefferson said in a statement. “When one looks at the sphere, we want them to be inspired to protect Earth. When one walks into the sphere, now housing the science city, and feels the action of all the ongoing scientific works, we want them to be inspired to become an alchemist of global solutions.”

Measuring 150 feet at its widest—almost the length of a football field—the sleek ship includes an extraordinary observation deck on the bow, a foredeck helipad to transport passengers to and from the vessel, and a selection of advanced underwater expedition vehicles for deep-sea exploration.

“The ship will introduce features found on cruise, expedition, research, and luxury yachts, but she will be none of them,” said Aaron Olivera, Earth 300 ’s chief executive. “We wanted to build the Olympic torch of global science, to expand our knowledge and understanding of the universe, both above and below the ocean’s surface.”

The orb is the most striking design element of the yacht.

The project’s list of backers is impressive and includes IBM, Triton Submarines, EYOS Expeditions, and RINA, an international leader in maritime safety. TerraPower, the nuclear innovation company founded by Bill Gates, devised the technology for the onboard molten-salt reactor, which will provide zero-emissions energy.

Expected to launch in 2025, Earth 300 will have room for a complement of 160 scientists from a variety of disciplines, as well as 165 crew members and dozens of experts-in-residences and student researchers.

There will also be spots for 40 VIP guests, who will pay $3 million each for the privilege. That’s more than 10 times the cost of a seat on Virgin Galactic. With so many looking spaceward, why develop a cutting-edge seafaring vessel?

“The oceans are dying,” Salas Jefferson told Architectural Digest . “Having been born in Palma de Mallorca, I’ve seen it firsthand in the Mediterranean. Now is the time to reboot, reconnect, and redirect our planet’s destiny. Our oceans keep us—and our planet—alive, and Earth 300 ’s mission is to protect our oceans and ensure their health for generations to come.” Space may be the future, Salas Jefferson says, but “today, Earth is our only home.”

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Entrepreneur launches emission-free super-yacht to provide $3m eco-tours

The yacht claims to be 100% carbon-free, article bookmarked.

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A 300-metre yacht with green technology , designed for environmental exploration , will also carry activists and billionaires on luxury trips.

The ship , called Earth 300, was designed by superyacht specialist Ivan Salas Jefferson and his company Iddes Yachts and is almost 300 meters long and 60 meters high and can accommodate 425 people.

Earth 300 is described as a vessel “that will unite science and exploration to confront earth’s greatest challenges," by Iddes Yacht founder Ivan Salas Jefferson.

The yacht, equipped with 22 state-of-the-art laboratories and a “science sphere” on the aft deck, intends to carry scientists and students for environmental exploration for free. However, it also wants to open some of its luxury suites for wealthy tourists who can rent it for $3 million each for a 10-day journey—helping to make the venture profitable.

Earth 300 claims to be one hundred per cent carbon-free.

Entrepreneur Aaron Olivera, CEO of Earth 300 says he believes the vessel will help raise environmental awareness.

“We wanted the sphere to inspire whoever looks at it to save the planet,” Mr Olivera was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. “Imagine if we could build an object that would galvanize people around the planet.” He calls the ship “The Eiffel Tower of our generation.”

The vessel took six years to build and preapre.

It was designed for emissions-free sailing and will be powered by nuclear technology known as molten salt reactors (MSRs), however, it will at first run on synthetic green fuels until the reactors receive certification.

While the founders intend to provide spacious cabins, balcony and accommodation for staff to the rich, they alo want to provide scientists and explorers with modern technologies to carry out research and gather data using the ship’s equipment.

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300-Meter Nuclear Megayacht Project Aims to Save the Earth

The earth 300 research vessel will be funded in part by 10-day vip tickets costing $3 million..

Chris Young

Courtesy of Earth 300

The Earth 300 is an ambitious scientific project aimed at raising awareness about climate change all while doubling up as a luxury research vessel funded in part by billionaire guests, according to a report by the BBC’s Science Focus .

Slated to launch in 2025, the Earth 300 megayacht will contain 22 laboratories and will carry 450 passengers, including scientists, environmentalists, and a few billionaires for good measure.

The 300m long vessel will include a 13-story ‘science sphere,’ in which the entrepreneur behind the project,  Aaron Olivera , aims to get some of the world’s best scientists to collaborate on climate change solutions, using high-end technology aboard the ship.

The idea is to sell space aboard the vessel to the rich and put 80 percent of the profits back into the science being conducted aboard the ship. Luxury apartments will be available, meaning the wealthy can contribute to science in more ways than one.

“ It is really an opportunity for the wealthy to contribute to science and participate in science. This is not having a billionaire in a bathtub, sipping a glass of champagne,” Aaron Olivera the entrepreneur behind the project explained in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald .

Among the technology available to the scientists aboard the ship will be robotics, artificial intelligence software, built-in sensors, and the world’s first commercial, seafaring quantum computer to process the huge amounts of data collected aboard the ship.

A zero-emission molten salt reactor-powered vessel

The Earth 300 vessel is planned to be zero-emission, running on nuclear energy from an onboard molten salt reactor based on technology similar to that being built by the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower . 

The project is estimated to cost approximately $500-700 million to build, and it will be funded partly by private investment and partnerships, though a large amount of funding is also projected to come from 10-day VIP tickets sold to wealthy tourists for $3 million.

The superyacht was designed by Barcelona-based Iddes Yachts — anyone who’s been to the city’s Marina Port Vell will likely see the design cues taken from the port’s buildings, especially from its sea-facing yacht club and its co-working space. The project itself was announced at a  launch event at Singapore’s Fullerton Bay Hotel, at a restaurant overlooking the country’s Marina Bay.

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At the event, Olivera pitched the Earth 300 project not only as a state-of-the-art science laboratory at sea but also as a means to bring increased awareness to the work required to turn the tide on climate change. 

If the ideas behind Earth 300 sound a bit mad, that’s because perhaps they are — little specific information has been revealed about the type of research that would be carried out aboard the megayacht. Still, Olivera claims that the project, whose findings will be open source, has the potential to help humanity reach its crucial climate change goals in the coming years.

Editor’s Note 18/06/21:   A pr evious version of this article incorrectly stated that the Earth 300 vessel was slated to launch in 2024, and that Terrapower was making a salt reactor specifically for Earth 300. These mistakes were corrected.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

Chris Young Chris Young is a journalist, copywriter, blogger and tech geek at heart who’s reported on the likes of the Mobile World Congress, written for Lifehack, The Culture Trip, Flydoscope and some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including NEC and Thales, about robots, satellites and other world-changing innovations. 

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EARTH 300 is a 984-foot atomic superyacht on a mission to save the world

Kieron Marchese

Kieron is a freelance writer and Digital Consultant who doesn't consider himself a design lover but a user of design - which to him is more than enough.

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Iddes Yachts

A futuristic vessel designed for oceanic research, the EARTH 300 is emission-free and powered by nuclear energy.

A “science city” on board an explorer vessel is big enough to accommodate 160 scientists and 22 state-of-the-art laboratories. Set for launch in 2025, the EARTH 300 boasts 984 feet in length and will be packed full of green technology with the intent to study climate change and hopefully come up with some solutions.

Designed for the future

International firm Iddes Yachts is behind the design of the ship , led by naval architect Iván Salas Jefferson. Suitably futuristic, the bold new concept features a contemporary shape with a pared-down conceptual language and an aerodynamic form. 

Polish naval architecture firm NED worked alongside Iddes Yachts in finessing Earth 300’s otherworldly design , which is perforated with a pattern of geometric shapes extending towards the nose of the ship. 

The vessel’s most striking feature, however, is its “science sphere”, chosen to resemble Earth, and poetically the focal area in which scientists will work hard to save it. It contains a 13-storey “science city” bringing together some of the world’s leading climate scientists, who together will collaborate on new climate solutions with the help of the ship’s state-of-the-art technology. 

Other features include an observation deck that appears delicately balanced on the ship’s top, a 46-metre beam and a helicopter pad. The vessel will also carry a selection of advanced underwater vehicles for underwater expeditions.

“The ship will introduce features found on cruise, expedition, research and luxury yachts but she will be none of them,” explains Earth 300 chief executive Aaron Olivera.

A first of many firsts

Powered by atomic energy, the zero-emission superyacht steals power from an onboard molten-salt reactor based on technology created by TerraPower, the nuclear innovations company set up by Bill gates.

It’s a first as quantum computing and a molten salt reactor have never been installed on a ship before. Essentially, the ship will be built as a floating computer, costing a staggering £350-500 million to build. 

EARTH 300 spans a sizable 984 feet, making it bigger than the Titanic and nearing the four-figures some of the largest ships in the world possess. Most of this will be taken up with scientific equipment that a fleet of climate scientists will use to capture real-time data.  

A combination of built-in sensors, artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning and real-time data processing will make sense of the data, as well as the world’s first commercial, ocean-going quantum computer. All the information gathered will be open-source and shared with other climate scientists as part of its mission to “ unites both science and exploration to take on some of the biggest challenges on Earth. ”

“To face the epic challenge posed by climate change, Earth 300 will combine science, technology, adventure, exploration, education and entertainment like it was never done before ,” says Giulio Ceppi, head of systems design at EARTH 300. 

“Citizen science” will be our key for a better future: we want to create the most innovative and effective tool to plan collectively for the survival of the oceans and the planet .”

Intrigued by the words of Earth 300’s Head of Systems Design? Check our our interview with Giulio Ceppi .

The Future of EARTH 300

According to the EARTH 300 official website , the plan is for the ship to set sail in 2025 , catering for up to 160 scientists from a variety of disciplines at any one time. Also on board will be 20 students, 165 crew members, and 40 VIP guests who will pay $3 million for their tickets.

Led by chief executive Olivera, the Earth 300 project is supported by a number of partners including IBM , Triton Submarines , EYOS Expeditions and RINA , which is among the world-leading classification societies in the cruise ships sector.

With the preliminary vessel design and naval engineering now complete, we now need only wait for Earth 300’s projected launch date of 2025.

Curious to know about other yacht designs focusing on sustainability? Check out Sinot’s luxury hydrogen-powered superyacht .

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Earth to CNN: No, a nuclear-powered superyacht won’t save the world

By Dawn Stover | September 28, 2021

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Who knew that a sexy nuclear superyacht could save us from climate catastrophe? That was the awesome news from CNN’s travel desk yesterday.

CNN wasn’t alone. Forbes , BBC Science Focus Magazine , and a host of other media outlets have previously hailed the world-rescuing potential of what CNN described as “an emissions-free megaship that will pit together climate scientists and the wealthy in a daring quest to save the planet.”

“Pit together” sounds like an apt description of a would-be merger between luxury tourism and climate action. You can put those two things together in a sentence, but in the real world they mix about as easily as oil and water.

And there’s another big problem with the plan for this overhyped 300-meter-long vessel and its global research: Earth 300 , as the $700 million superyacht is called, will be powered by a molten salt nuclear reactor that doesn’t exist yet and won’t be certified for at least five years. The company’s website illustrates the reactor with a scale model of an experiment done in the 1960s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The website also says the scientists onboard Earth 300 will have the world’s first ocean-going quantum computer. But that, too, has yet to be built.

Meanwhile, the climate crisis needs immediate attention. “We really are out of time,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned this month.

While they wait for a modular nuclear reactor that might never come, the developers of Earth 300 say they will use green synthetic fuels. These are liquid fuels derived from coal or natural gas in a process that captures carbon. However, they are much more expensive than fossil fuels. Aaron Olivera, the entrepreneur behind Earth 300 , told CNN he plans to “eventually” retrofit the yacht with a reactor being developed by the UK company Core Power in collaboration with TerraPower, a US nuclear engineering firm chaired by Bill Gates.

Globally, there are at least 171 motorized megayachts that are 75 meters (246 feet) or more in length. Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, is rumored to be buying a superyacht so big that it will have a dock for its own “support yacht.” Eclipse , an even bigger superyacht owned by Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, has its own missile defense system. The largest yacht currently operating, Azzam , is 180 meters (590 feet) long and consumes 13 metric tons of fuel per hour at its top speed of 33 knots. That’s about 0.01 miles (or a little over 50 feet) per gallon.

Earth 300 would be much bigger.

And the customers Olivera would like to attract—the wealthiest people in the world—also tend to have the world’s largest carbon footprints, thanks in no small part to their habit of traveling aboard superyachts and private airplanes. According to calculations by two researchers at Indiana University , a superyacht with a permanent crew and helicopter pad is “by far the worst asset to own from an environmental standpoint.”

Earth 300 ’s luxury suites will each rent for $300,000 a day, which presumably will cover the personnel and expenses needed to operate the ship and its 22 scientific laboratories. But construction won’t begin until 2025 at the earliest, and any groundbreaking scientific discoveries or billionaire epiphanies that could help stabilize the climate are even further into the future.

Construction is already delayed on another 600-foot-long yacht that will combine climate research with charters for paying customers. Financed by Kjell Inge Røkke, a Norwegian billionaire who made his fortune in fishing and oil drilling, REV Ocean will investigate climate change and ocean acidification, plastic pollution, and overfishing, but the nonprofit project is at least three years behind schedule.

Who will be aboard these superyachts? CNN asked Olivera which famous people he’d like to host on his future ship, and he named Elon Musk, Michelle Obama, Greta Thunberg, Naomi Klein and Yvon Chouinard. Like the superyacht itself, some of those potential guests seem more aspirational than realistic.

Wealthiest 1% produce double the combined CO2 emissions of poorest 50%. "We have got to cut over-consumption and the best place to start is over-consumption among the polluting elites who contribute by far more than their share of carbon emissions." https://t.co/0bEwESnE9O — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 13, 2021

Greta Thunberg doesn’t take airplanes or motor yachts. Elon Musk doesn’t take vacations. And Bill Gates may be hurt that he’s not on the A-list.

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Keywords: CNN , Earth 300 , superyachts Topics: Climate Change , Columnists , Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Risk , Opinion

An absurd idea, the money much better spent on more prosaic but proven solutions like promoting regen Agriculture. If they start to ask for shares, we know it is something else … PS Don’t knock LFTRs.

think “Snowpiercer”!

(But rather than a train running on and on thru a frozen wasteland, we get yachts sailing on and on upon oceans of warmed-up water.)

I think the true purpose of such a super yacht is as a literal show boat for promoting the so-called ‘green’ liquid biofuel(s). For such a project to be taken seriously, its entire construction should not consume any drop, gram or Pascal of any carbon based fuel. The recycling, mining, smelting, casting, any materials processing, transportation of raw materials and components, then systems integration, final assembly and super yacht launching should be done with completely renewable energy sources. Initially the propulsion system should be powered with Perovskite Solar Cell based Photo-Voltaic panels and Icelandic design wind power generators with high …  Read more »

As a follow up to my previous comment (which I couldn’t add because my editing time window expired) was: One prominent type of salt under investigation (also potentially for use in LFTR) is FLiBe, which was the subject of a March 1999 research paper by Lockeed Martin sponsored researchers L. C. Cadwallader and G. R. Longhurst as a potential plasma facing coolant for Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors. This paper explores to a good level of detail, the Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety issues to be addressed when working with FLiBe salt. This is one area of investigation that may benefit …  Read more »

We have carbon free ships. They are powered by sail.

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Dawn Stover is a contributing editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. She began her career at Harper's magazine and worked... Read More

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Will Scientists Save The World Aboard This Nuclear-Powered 980-Foot-Long Superyacht?

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The confluence of science and superyachts may sound a bit far-fetched but, the world’s largest superyacht—the  600-foot-long  REV Ocean  is a research and expedition vessel that was designed by the legendary superyacht designer  Espen Øino  with an interior by  H2 Yacht Design .  REV Ocean  is also the centerpiece of a  scientific mission  that was founded  Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke  and scheduled to be delivered later this year.

But  REV Ocean  looks small compared to the 980-foot-long concept superyacht  Earth 300 intends to build. And since it’s designed to be powered with a 100% carbon-free propulsion system, it could possibly be the “greenest” superyacht ever built—if it gets built.   

Could this Nuclear-Powered 980-Foot-Long Superyacht represent the future of green marine ... [+] transportation?

According to advance reports, the lofty goals of Earth 300 are to “build the Olympic Torch of global science and to expand our knowledge and understanding of the universe both above and below the ocean’s surface.

“The result is a collaborative, next-generation platform for state-of-the-art science at sea. Our radical design – iconic, intelligent, aesthetically-pleasing – is intentional. It’s a 300-metre fabrication of the future. The 13-story Science Sphere and cantilevered Observation Deck are the most obvious and eye-catching examples.”

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Like  REV Ocean  and other large research vessels, Earth 300 is designed to carry scientists all over the globe to conduct experiments. But since nay also be powered by a “Molten Salt Reactor” that’s reported to be safe, sustainable and 100% emission free, Earth 300 could be an exciting launch pad for a significant leap forward in green marine power.

Earth 300's Nuclear-Powered 980-Foot-Long Superyacht concept represents the future of green marine ... [+] transportation.

According to Earth 300, the marine version of the Molten Salt Reactor (m-MSR) produces atomic energy with few moving parts and provides the sustainable, clean energy needed to move ocean transportation into the future. Earth 300 would be the first research vessel that could be powered by this revolutionary propulsion system.

And while I’ll be first to report that “nuclear power” may still cause real concerns among scientists and the general public alike, advancements in this technology coupled with an ability to produce significant power in clean new ways could provide affordable and significant green solutions for the world’s largest ships. But don’t take my word for it!  Bill Gates’s Terra Power  and some of the worlds smartest minds are working on this technology too.

The bold goals of this Earth 300 and this futuristic ship that was designed by  Iddes Yachts  with naval architecture by  NED Project  and has a “who’s who” list of partners including the polar exploration experts  EYOS Expeditions  and  Core Power Energy  promise to reframe what a floating research laboratory can achieve.

The 980-foot-long Earth 300 superyacht is a bold concept to tackle some big challenges

The capabilities that Earth 300 scientists will have at their disposal: artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, real time data processing—including the latest quantum computer—are exceptional.

And since the massive global problems we face require bold new ideas like these I’m going to be watching this project closely! 

Stay tuned.

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The confluence of science and superyachts may sound a bit far-fetched but, the world’s largest superyacht—the 600-foot-long REV Ocean is a research and expedition vessel that was designed by the legendary superyacht designer Espen Øino with an interior by H2 Yacht Design. REV Ocean is also the centerpiece of a scientific mission that was founded Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke and scheduled to be delivered later this year.

But REV Ocean looks small compared to the 980-foot-long concept superyacht Earth 300intends to build. And since it’s designed to be powered with a 100% carbon-free propulsion system, it could possibly be the “greenest” superyacht ever built—if it gets built.

According to advance reports, the lofty goals of Earth 300 are to “build the Olympic Torch of global science and to expand our knowledge and understanding of the universe both above and below the ocean’s surface.

“The result is a collaborative, next-generation platform for state-of-the-art science at sea. Our radical design – iconic, intelligent, aesthetically-pleasing – is intentional. It’s a 300-metre fabrication of the future. The 13-story Science Sphere and cantilevered Observation Deck are the most obvious and eye-catching examples.”

Like REV Ocean and other large research vessels, Earth 300 is designed to carry scientists all over the globe to conduct experiments. But since nay also be powered by a “Molten Salt Reactor” that’s reported to be safe, sustainable and 100% emission free, Earth 300 could be an exciting launch pad for a significant leap forward in green marine power.

According to Earth 300, the marine version of the Molten Salt Reactor (m-MSR) produces atomic energy with few moving parts and provides the sustainable, clean energy needed to move ocean transportation into the future. Earth 300 would be the first research vessel that could be powered by this revolutionary propulsion system.

And while I’ll be first to report that “nuclear power” may still cause real concerns among scientists and the general public alike, advancements in this technology coupled with an ability to produce significant power in clean new ways could provide affordable and significant green solutions for the world’s largest ships. But don’t take my word for it! Bill Gates’s Terra Power and some of the worlds smartest minds are working on this technology too.

The bold goals of this Earth 300 and this futuristic ship that was designed by Iddes Yachts with naval architecture by NED Project and has a “who’s who” list of partners including the polar exploration experts EYOS Expeditions and Core Power Energy promise to reframe what a floating research laboratory can achieve.

The capabilities that Earth 300 scientists will have at their disposal: artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, real time data processing—including the latest quantum computer—are exceptional.

And since the massive global problems we face require bold new ideas like these I’m going to be watching this project closely! 

Stay tuned.

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Tickets for a nuclear-powered superyacht will cost $3 million for VIPs and be free to scientists and students selected to help study climate change

• The Earth 300 ship is designed to be emission-free and powered by nuclear energy.
• Aaron Olivera, the CEO of Earth 300, wants to bring the "brightest and smartest" scientists aboard.
• The ship is scheduled to set sail in 2025 with 160 scientists and 40 VIP guests.

You can hitch a 10-day ride on a nuclear-powered, emission-free yacht for the price of $3 million, or take the trip for free if you're a lucky student or scientist selected to be on board to help study the effects of climate change .

The yacht, called the Earth 300, will be a global icon for science, according to its website . The plan is for it to set sail in 2025 with 160 scientists on board from a variety of disciplines, 20 students, 165 staff, and 40 VIP guests who can each pay $3 million for their tickets. 

Aaron Olivera, the CEO of Earth 300, told Money FM he thought of the yacht and voyage in 2015, when he went scuba diving in the Maldives and saw dead coral that was killed by the overacidification in the ocean.

He then came up with the idea to bring the "brightest and smartest" scientists aboard a new-age ship to work together to come up with solutions to climate change .

The design of the ship, which will be powered by safe and sustainable atomic energy from a molten-salt reactor, has 22 "cutting-edge" laboratories that have artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, real-time data processing, and the latest quantum computer, according to the website.

"It's state-of-the-art science at sea," Olivera said on Money FM on April 9. 

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The vessel has a sleek look. It's 300 meters long, which is about three and one-third football fields, by 46 meters wide, translating to about 1 1/2 basketball courts, by 60 meters tall at its highest point, or about the height of an 18-story building.

"It's a vessel that's got the overall size of a cruise ship, but it's not a cruise ship. It's got the overall look of a superyacht, but it's not a superyacht," Olivera said on the radio show. "It's got the technology to rival an aircraft carrier, but it's not an aircraft carrier. It's going to have the endurance and the exploration skills of an explorer vessel, but it's not an explorer vessel. It's all of those put together in one package."

Before founding Earth 300, Olivera was the president of Falcon Royal Yachts, where he helped create two luxury megayachts designed by Porsche, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he worked at Corporate Grand, creating elite dining and entertainment experiences for the ultrawealthy.

The CEO has "experiences in a myriad of industries, from training and development, to publishing, hospitality, retail and yachting," according to his bio on the Earth 300 website. 

When asked why he decided to create a ship to be the vessel for studying climate change, Olivera said, "The oceans are the beating heart of the planet. Without oceans , there cannot be any life."

But the proposal still has a ways to go.

Olivera has already funneled $5 million into the design, and European and South Korean shipyards are likely to carry out the construction, according to reporting from Entrepreneur . The news site said the total cost of the ship would be about $500 million to $700 million, with some funding coming from private investors.

"The idea was to design an object that would be able to capture everybody's imaginations on a global scale," Olivera said on Money FM, adding: "There's nothing like this."

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Superyacht, Earth 300, to launch in 2025 on a journey to save planet earth

A 300m-long superyacht is set to launch in 2025, carrying a scientific "strike force" tasked with studying the earth's climate and coming up with plans to tackle global warming.

Called Earth 300 , the research vessel will feature a 13-storey Science Sphere, housing 22 laboratories and acting as a floating scientific hub.

Designed by Iddes Yachts – led by naval architect Iván Salas Jefferson – and Polish naval architecture firm NED, it will be home to 160 of the brightest minds in science, dedicated to studying the most pressing challenges of our time.

Earth 300 will be powered by a molten salt reactor, a new form of atomic energy which uses molten fluoride salts as primary coolant. This, according to the team behind Earth 300, will provide a "sustainable, clean energy needed to move ocean transportation into the future".

The project is the brainchild of Singapore-based entrepreneur Aaron Oliveira.

"Our ambition for Earth 300 was fearless from the start: we wanted to build the Olympic Torch of global science, to expand our knowledge and understanding of the universe, both above and below the ocean’s surface," Oliveira said.

"Earth 300 represents an unparalleled opportunity for academia and private enterprise to collaborate on the most pressing challenges of our time.

"We’re bringing 160 of the brightest minds into our Science Sphere and equipping them with a level of technology never before seen on an ocean-going research vessel.

"Our radical design – iconic, intelligent, aesthetically-pleasing – is intentional.

"It’s a 300-metre fabrication of the future. The 13-storey Science Sphere and cantilevered Observation Deck are the most obvious and eye-catching examples."

According to Oliveira, the preliminary vessel design of Earth 300 is ready and approved and the initial naval engineering is completed.

"We now have global partners who are supporting us with next stages," he added.

"We are living at a pivotal moment in human history, facing the greatest challenge since the dawn of man - climate change so our goal is to ring the climate alarm on a global scale and inspire an era of ecological imagination, spawning a new brand of planetary vanguard, ethical leaders who will support a new economic and ecological vision for the world.”

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