Its no surprise that the Earth has a lot of unexplored territory when it comes to the oceans and seas of the world. While man may have made strides in space exploration, it has been difficult to map the seven seas. In fact some experts say that close to 99 percent of the ocean floor is uncharted and undiscovered.

The primary problem for exploration has been the great depth at which this ocean floor lies and the inability of man to dive that deep and stay there for the long periods of time an in-depth exploration would take. This is the problem that the scientists designing and building the Sea Orbiter are hoping to solve.

The Sea Orbiter is a $43 million research project which is a result of more than 30 years of research and designing. A self sufficient slow drift vessel, the Sea Orbiter is going to work as an international oceanic station to conduct scientific research into the oceans of the world.

Its a tribute to Jules Verne and will be a 24/7 laboratory where the crew is able to live underwater for months on end to complete research studies. Captain Nemo would be proud of the way that this partially crowd funded science project is coming together.