German luxury boatbuilder Lürssen Yachts has shared video footage of it successfully launching a zero-emissions megayacht longer than two olympic swimming pools, suspected to be commissioned by a Japanese billionaire. The exterior of hydrogen powered megayacht, codenamed Project Cosmos, is being designed by Apple designer Marc Newson.
Lürssen Yachts is a legacy boatbuilder with German roots dating as far back at 1860. After initially starting out building racing rowboats, Lürssen constructed the world’s first motorboat in 1886. It has gone bigger and better in the century and a half since that milestone, gaining a reputation in the maritime industry for consistently pushing the limits of engineering and innovation within its unique vessels.
Lürssen first committed to using fuel cells way back in 2009 and has been operating a methanol-hydrogen fuel cell power plant since 2012. That technology is present in its current megayacht build, Project Cosmos – which just made its technical launch onto the waters of Germany.
It’s a work in progress that still has a couple years to go, but you can already get a scope of its size and unique design from the images below.
Credit: Lurssen Yachts/YouTube
This megayacht can operate for 15 days without emissions
Lürssen Yachts uploaded a new video to YouTube today sharing the successful technical launch of the Project Cosmos from its facility in Germany, just five days after officially unveiling the megyacht in a separate video.
This is the public’s first genuine glimpse of the vessel despite it entering year three of construction. As you can see from the images above, Project Cosmos is a massive 114.2. meter (~375 ft) megayacht featuring an explorer-style profile, meaning the vessel’s the superstructure has been positioned more forward to allow for a larger aft deck.
Other features spotted from the YouTube footage include a swimming pool and some sort of large cut-out, which could be used to stow a separate smaller (but still quite large) vessel (preferably electric, right?). Up top, you’ll notice what appears to be a 360-degree viewing area as well as a helipad on the bridge deck below.
According to Boat International, the exterior of the megayacht is being designed by Australian designer Marc Newson, who helped form the look of the Apple Watch in 2015. On the maritime side, Newson also designed a 140-meter superyacht called Solaris for Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich.
The star of the show (at least to us), however, is the unique hydrogen powertrain Lürssen has implemented in the megayacht. Luxury Launches points out that rather than stow and tote massive liquid hydrogen tanks aboard, Project Cosmos will utilize readily available methanol which still carries plenty of hydrogen in its chemical makeup.
The waste result is still just water, offering a viable zero-emissions solution at sea that Lürssen hopes will influence future megayacht builds, especially since some of the traditional ultra-large vessels have larger carbon footprints that entire island nations.
Hydrogen power clearly offers a better solution, especially since Lürssen Yachts states the Project Cosmos’ green propulsion system enables its owner to anchor down for 15 nights without emissions. In terms of range at sea, the megayacht will be able to slow cruise for over 1,000 miles, again emissions-free.
The hydrogen powered megayacht is believed to be commissioned by Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa. Maezawa was seen onboard the vessel during the technical launch in the video below – the Japanese flag hung from the railing of the yacht is also a clear hint.
Lürssen Yachts is expected to complete delivery of the Project Cosmos megayacht in 2025. See more below:
Keyword: Meet Project Cosmos: 1,000 mile range, emissions-free megayacht from Apple Watch designer