Release Date: April 1, 2005
Houston, Texas: NASA has just announced it's teaming up with French boat manufacturer, Lagoon, to build the world's first 'space' catamaran which will be deployed for recreational and exploratory use on Mars by the year 2020.
The announcement coincides with the recent discovery of a huge water basin in the southern regions of the red planet by the REAL Bluetooth Satellite (REAL BS) one week ago.
The discovery prompted Nasa to fast track secret plans to build a huge biosphere dome over the water and create a sustainable environment that matches Earth and will allow recreational activities such as sailing and snorkeling.
 The Nasa team determined that light solar winds combined with the excellent quality of the water so far surveyed indicate that a mutilhull would be the ideal craft for the maiden sailing voyage on the red planet.
Nasa expects to land a man on mars by the year 2015 and have the biosphere ready by 2020.
The futuristic mega catamaran has been tentatively code named "Fullovit" after French designer Monsieur Fullovit. and will measure up to 150 feet in length
While six elite astronauts are expected to be among the first to sail the sophisticated catamaran, Nasa has announced that a special international lottery will be held on www.catamarans.com , allowing the winner - an ordinary citizen - the chance to spend one year sailing onboard Odyssey with the astronauts inside the Biosphere.
 According to Nasa, a string of islands currently dot the lake, which will eventually resemble some of those found in the Mediterranean and British Virgin Islands complete with white beaches, palm trees and coral reefs.
Various oxygen and gas outlets to match the life producing conditions of Earth will tightly control the atmosphere of the biosphere and produce idyllic scenery and sailing conditions
Nasa has determined that a mega catamaran in the range of 150 feet complete with extraordinary interior volume and a massive flybridge will offer the ideal cruising and exploratory platform.
Nasa even flew out renowned architect designers Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prevost to meet with a group of engineers to determine how to move forward with building the world's ultimate catamaran.
 A top-level meeting was held at a nearby Macdonald's outlet in Houston where the designers scribbled out some early ideas on napkins. Unfortunately, some napkins were lost which delayed the news announcement by a week.
Nasa will introduce state of the art electronics onboard the catamaran along with its recent breakthroughs in electric motor technology to produce the world's most sophisticated sailing craft.
Early talks indicate that a hybrid sailing and power vessel is being considered which would allow the sailors to adjust the body shape and rigging of the vessel to adapt to sailing conditions.
The French manufacturers believe this design could be commercialized on earth and introduce a new era in power and sailing catamarans.
Nasa engineers have so far been impressed with current models such as the Lagoon 440, Lagoon Power 43 and heralded Lagoon 500.
 Nasa has plans to assemble the 150-foot catamaran at the docking bay of the International Space Station.
100 payloads will be sent into outer space by the Space Shuttle and it will take over eight years to build this revolutionary sailing craft.
Once complete, a series of satellite outposts will be built towards the red planet, which will convey the catamaran to its final destination.
|
