Yesterday (Sunday, January 5), Rüdiger Koch set a new world record for the longest continuous stay below the water in an underwater room. The aerospace engineer spent 101 days under the Caribbean Sea just outside Linton Bay, Panama, beating out the previous record of 100 days set by Dr. Joseph Dituri. He passed the 14 weeks and change in a specialized Deepwater Model of the SeaPod, a line of fully aquatic residence homes designed and sold by his company, Ocean Builders.
Speaking to Bored Panda from beneath the waves, the Hemingway-esque industrialist and adventurer, familiarly known as Rudy, joined his co-founder and CEO Grant Romundt to reveal the challenges of spending more than three months underwater—and how doing so will help with an unexpected goal: space travel.
Ocean Builders co-founder and chief engineer Rüdiger Koch has spent over 100 days in an underwater room to prove the feasibility of his company’s Deepwater SeaPods, which will form floating cities
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders
Of course, the immediate purpose of the record attempt was to prove the feasibility of the SeaPod Deepwater Model. Unlike the standard SeaPods, which are designed for depths around 13 feet (four meters), the Deepwater Model is a floating human habitat suitable for the open ocean and capable of handling large swells.
Indeed, stability is one of the SeaPod’s main selling points. Even the current shallow-water models don’t rock in the waves like a boat. “A lot of times you don’t even feel the movement on my SeaPod,” Grant assured us.
Plus, they’re far more spacious and decked out with amenities. The CEO gave us a tour of his own pod, including the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, as well as a furnished balcony. Appliances like a large fridge to a temperature-controlled bed run off solar power managed by an internal, liquid-cooled computer. And this is all centered within gorgeous 360-degree views of the bay. Altogether, there are 830 square feet of living space (around 77 square meters).
Ocean Builders already commercially produce shallow-water SeaPods—floating houses with around 830 square feet of living space—in Linton Bay, Panama
Rudy’s underwater room is a bit more cramped, though, at just 300 square feet (about 28 square meters). However, the scientist seemed unfazed by his isolated surroundings. He said he was surprised by how smoothly the stay had gone.
“I was actually expecting some stuff to show up,” he confided in us. “At the beginning we had issues with electricity. I was using too much electricity, a few other things. Nothing serious.”
Part of the record-setter’s high spirits are surely due to his enchanted surroundings. As he spoke to us, fish passed by the windows in the teal water, occasionally stopping to peek in and satisfy their curiosity. Yet, the truth is, Ocean Builders' chief engineer is far too busy to feel loneliness, claustrophobia, or fear. His vision goes beyond SeaPods.
Ocean Builders moved to Panama after the Thai government destroyed their first prototype off the coast of Phuket in 2019
Image credits: Ocean Builders
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders
After the Thai government destroyed their first prototype off the coast of Phuket, Ocean Builders gained notoriety within the Seasteading movement, drawing the attention of libertarians, anarchists, and other activists looking for a way to escape government authority. However, Grant confided that SeaPods attract a wide range of customers.
“There's a lot of profiles because we appeal to many different kinds of markets like digital nomads, crypto enthusiasts, the yachties that love being on the water, but maybe want something more like a home now because they've been on a boat for so long. And then there's creative people like musicians and artists that want some place that's really inspiring to work.”
In Grant’s case, he’d long felt the drive to live on the water. Before founding Ocean Builders, he lived in a floating home in a marina in Toronto. The lifestyle speaks to him on a spiritual level.
SeaPods appeal to a variety of customers, from those looking to escape government authority to artists and musicians looking for an inspiring environment
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders
But for Rudy, Ocean Builders is all about creating the future. To some extent, his SeaPods are about environmentalism. He was once quoted by the Seasteading Institute as saying: “Building on land destroys habitats. Building on the ocean creates habitats. You can’t be an environmentalist if you live on land.”
With the Deepwater Model, the inventor sees himself as one step closer to creating floating cities, which he insists will be even more important in the future due to rising sea levels. Much of his time—while setting the record—has been devoted to bringing about this future. For example, he’s been working on developing an AI that could control mobile robots capable of maintaining and repairing the SeaPods so that the residents don’t need any specialized technical expertise.
“We will be able to provide robots that can actually walk about the house like bipedal robots,” he said. He hopes to have this AI system up in a couple of years.
For Rüdiger Koch, SeaPods are just a stepping stone to space travel—floating cities are necessary to build the futuristic launch loop
Image credits: Grant Romundt from Ocean Builders (Render Image)
However, even floating cities aren’t Rudy’s end goal. His sights are set on the stars. An aerospace engineer, he only came to co-found Ocean Builders due to his interest in the launch loop, a means of reaching space without rockets. Imagine a giant hula hoop standing upright on the surface of the Earth with the top part in space. Inside the hoop, a maglev train goes around and around at such blistering speeds that, when timed correctly, the centrifugal force can fling a payload into space.
The launch loop is potentially cheaper than rockets since it doesn’t require rocket fuel, and it’s environmentally friendlier for the same reason. Moreover, according to Rudy, it doesn’t require any technology that isn’t already available. It’s merely a question of engineering, which is where he comes in.
Nevertheless, for the immediate future, the visionary remains under the sea. He’s extended his stay to 150 days.