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Space Adventures, a company successfully offering space travel to the general public, was founded by Mike and several other like-minded business partners.  Considered ‘science fiction’ at its inception, Space Adventures has sent a number of private adventurers into space where they have spent time at the International Space Station.  Mike was also one of the original shareholders of Zero Gravity Corp, operating Zero-G flights for science research and individual participants.

 

In an attempt to quench his thirst for knowledge about the world’s oceans, Mike founded Deep Ocean Expeditions (DOE) in 1998. Mike initially chartered the Russian MIR submersibles, capable of reaching depths of 6000m, to dive to the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1998.  Since then, DOE has taken over the commercial management of these Russian owned and operated submersibles and has repeatedly dived the Titanic, the Bismarck and other deep wrecks for scientific research and extreme depth-diving tourism, being the first to ever take such tours.  In addition, Mike has dived to other little known abyssal sites of enormous importance and interest, such as the hydrothermal vents of the mid-Atlantic ridge. In 2012 Mike logistically supported a private venture to search for giant squid in deep waters off the coast of Japan using three submersibles (which was filmed as a documentary to be made by NHK TV and Discovery Channel).  Earlier the same year, Mike was integral to the success of US filmmaker James Cameron’s dive to the deepest part of the world’s oceans, the Mariana Trench, in the western Pacific.

 
In 2002, Mike purchased his own submersibles, Deep Rovers 1 and 2, and commissioned the construction of the smaller two-person Nuyttco Dual Deepworker submersible.  In owning three submarines with 1000m depth ratings, Mike has very practical hands-on experience managing and operating submersibles in various parts of the world, and planning projects and logistics around them.  More recent projects of Mike’s have included the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated tethered vehicles (ROVs) and sidescan technologies.  In particular, Mike has significant experience and competence in underwater search and recovery, and his expertise was instrumentall in the finding of the ill-fated Air France A330 off the coast of Brazil.

 

On a personal basis, Mike has climbed to 8000m on the world’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest, and has summited the highest mountain in Antarctica, Mt. Vinson Massif.  He has dog-sledded to the North Pole and dog-sledded across Greenland and also along the east coast of Greenland.  He has taken part in a man-hauling expedition from the South Pole to the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.  In 2007 he was one of six submersible divers who successfully dived 4,500m beneath the North Pole.

As well as these expeditions to the far ends of the earth Mike has for many years organised significant natural history and scuba diving expeditions in the remote equatorial regions of Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Indonesia and many Pacific Ocean atoll groups.

 

Mike has travelled extensively on all continents of the world and has been organising land, ocean-going and aircraft supported expeditions to remote locations for more than three decades.  Many thousands of expedition tourists from around the globe have taken trips of a lifetime through one of Mike’s ventures.

 

Mike enjoys an unparalleled safety record that, amongst other things, makes his operations very attractive to buyers within the industry.  He has successfully on-sold earlier companies of his that still operate today.  In moving from one venture to another he has also left many adventure concepts to fledgling companies that now operate as a legacy to Mike’s early trail blazing efforts.  It is a tribute to Mike that many of his current clients were also some of his first ever clients when he began business in the 1970s.

 

In addition to producing great concepts for expedition experiences and research opportunities, Mike has a successful record of being able to carry these visions and ‘off the wall’ ideas from the concept stage through to fruition.  He has demonstrated ability to progress his visionary ideas into environmentally, ecologically and economically sustainable businesses.

 

Mike’s creative and unconventional mind is always searching and thinking of what to explore next.  He seems to adhere to the principles that drove the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary: “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  Although driven by his personal thirst for knowledge and exploration, Mike says his greatest pleasure is in the sharing of experiences with others.  Mike not only has the courage and imagination to dream large but believes in what he is doing and passes his enormous enthusiasm on to those who work with him.