{"id":352825,"date":"2026-06-18T15:49:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=352825"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:19:43","slug":"gaming-billionaire-spending-600m-on-worlds-most-advanced-marine-research-vessel-news-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/gaming-billionaire-spending-600m-on-worlds-most-advanced-marine-research-vessel-news-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming billionaire spending \u00a3600m on ‘world’s most advanced marine research vessel’ | News Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A rendering of the RV11000. (Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gaming billionaire Gabe Newell has commissioned the world\u2019s most costly and advanced marine research vessel.<\/p>\n

Norwegian shipbuilder VARD has secured the contract from Newell, which is price almost \u20ac700million (\u00a3595million), to design and construct the RV11000.<\/p>\n

The deal, awarded by Newell\u2019s Inkfish organisation, is the biggest order of its kind ever placed with a Norwegian shipyard.<\/p>\n

The RV11000 vessel might be able to operating at depths of as much as 11,000 metres and is meant to support among the most ambitious deep-sea scientific missions undertaken to this point.<\/p>\n

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The vessel might be able to operating at depths of as much as 11,000 metres. Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 162 metres long and 28 metres wide, RV11000 might be significantly larger than Inkfish\u2019s first purpose-built research vessel, RV6000, which was contracted with VARD in 2025. <\/p>\n

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The brand new ship will join Inkfish\u2019s growing fleet alongside RV Hydra and RV Dagon.<\/p>\n

Rune R\u00f8dset, VARD\u2019s Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing, said: \u2018The RV11000 isn’t just one other research vessel \u2013 it represents a brand new level of ambition in deep-sea exploration. <\/p>\n

\u2018No other vessel has combined such a wide selection of newly developed and highly advanced technologies right into a single platform dedicated to operating on the deepest parts of the ocean.\u2019<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018Being a part of a project of this magnitude is each humbling and galvanizing. The innovation level, and the determination from Inkfish have resulted in a vessel that stands in a category of its own.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Norwegian shipbuilder VARD has secured the contract from Newell, which is price almost \u20ac700m (\u00a3595m), to design and construct the RV11000. Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deep sea research<\/h2>\n

Developed by Vard Design in \u00c5lesund, Norway, in partnership with Inkfish and technical partner YTMC, the vessel is being designed for a wide selection of deep-ocean operations, including seabed mapping, sediment coring, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployment and submarine support.<\/p>\n

Amongst its capabilities might be facilities to launch and recuperate submarines, operate ROVs at extreme depths and collect sediment samples using a 40-metre coring system. <\/p>\n

The vessel will even be equipped with advanced oceanographic instruments, including systems for measuring temperature, salinity and pressure at depth. <\/p>\n

VARD says the ship will feature the biggest battery installation ever fitted to a vessel, allowing as much as 12 hours of silent scientific operations powered entirely by battery systems.<\/p>\n

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The RV11000\u2019s sleeping quarters. Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking in regards to the project, Stu Buckle, answerable for recent builds and special projects at Inkfish, said: \u2018This next-generation vessel builds on earlier designs to deliver significantly greater capability, flexibility, and reach to enable science. <\/p>\n

\u2018RV11000 might be a custom-built platform that pushes the boundaries on what is feasible for marine research \u2013 strengthening our ability to support scientists and unlock recent understanding of the ocean. Bringing researchers, shipbuilders, and operators together from the outset has ensured the design is driven directly by scientific ambition and want.\u2019<\/p>\n

The RV1100 will accommodate as much as 130 crew members and scientists, most of them in single cabins. It would also include laboratories, workshops and office facilities designed to support scientific research programmes. <\/p>\n

VARD Group chief executive Cathrine Kristiseter Marti said the contract reflected each the corporate\u2019s expertise and the support of its parent company, the Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri.<\/p>\n

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The RV1100 will accommodate as much as 130 crew members and scientists. Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ship is meant to support a broad range of scientific missions, and, in response to Inkfish, the vessel\u2019s objective is to assist researchers explore previously uncharted regions of the ocean and contribute to what it describes as probably the most comprehensive deep-ocean dataset assembled thus far.<\/p>\n

The vessel might be built through VARD\u2019s integrated production network. The hull might be constructed at the corporate\u2019s shipyard in Tulcea, Romania, before being fitted out, commissioned and delivered from considered one of VARD\u2019s Norwegian facilities.<\/p>\n

The ship will incorporate systems supplied by several VARD subsidiaries, including Vard Electro, which is able to provide integrated power, control, bridge and communications technology, and Seaonics, which is able to supply specialist lifting and handling equipment.<\/p>\n

Delivery of RV11000 is scheduled for the primary quarter of 2030.<\/p>\n

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A rendering of the RV11000. (Credit: Courtesy of Vard\/Cover Media) Gaming billionaire Gabe Newell has commissioned the world\u2019s most costly and advanced marine research vessel. Norwegian shipbuilder VARD has secured the contract from Newell, which is price almost \u20ac700million (\u00a3595million), to design and construct the RV11000. The deal, awarded by Newell\u2019s Inkfish organisation, is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[8556,341,1454,69,9865,395,360,4139,627,17476,5471],"class_list":["post-352825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-600m","tag-advanced","tag-billionaire","tag-gaming","tag-marine","tag-news","tag-research","tag-spending","tag-tech","tag-vessel","tag-worlds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352825"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352828,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352825\/revisions\/352828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}