Taking living off-grid to the next level.
If you’ve always dreamt of living in the vast blues, or are simply tired of humanity, you may be in luck.
Behold the UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object — the brainchild of Jet Capsule, an Italian mini yacht-maker. The UFO pod concept is designed to float through the oceans at a relaxed maximum speed of 4 miles per hour (6.5 km/hr or 3.5 knots), propelled by a water-jet electric motor.
The creators say that the UFO takes advantage of the natural elements — Fire (Sun), Air (Wind), Water (Sea), and Earth (Garden) — to funciton completely independent of fossil fuels.
The pod boasts 430 square feet (40 square meters) of solar panels, so the battery-powered motor gets its energy from a sustainable source. The panels are located in a closeable space at the top of the roof, so if a storm hits, they can be protected and secured.
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On the Jet Capsule website, the creators write that additional energy sources could be provided through wind and water turbines on the top of the UFO or below the main disc. This would equip the pods with an extra stash of energy for cloudy days when the solar panels might need some backup.
Additionally, a water generator would act as a desalination device to convert rain or seawater to fresh drinking water. The pod would also be encircled with a deck designated for a vegetable garden, although the creators haven’t mentioned how the veggies would be protected in a storm.
The pod has a bedroom and bathroom, but the submerged lower level is arguably the coolest part of the UFO — a large viewing window allows people to hang out and watch marine life under the sea. (All fun and games until a shark swims up.)
The company still has to build the first prototype, but they’re confident that the design they’ve come up with would be “unsinkable even in rough sea conditions,” courtesy of an elastic anchor system.
"The main structure of the floating object can be aligned with the compass, keeping the position angle oriented on the desired cardinal direction," they write on their site.
The company is set to launch a Kickstarter campaign, and is looking for investors to help make the first UFO prototype a reality. The cost? A lavish $800,000, but after the first models are built, the designers hope the price will drop to $200,000 per pod. It’s definitely not chump change, but waking up everyday in the midst of colorful fish and sea life wouldn’t be a bad set up.
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