Sir Richard Branson has unveiled plans for Virgin Volcanic, a faux plan to explore the center of the earth using a giant passenger drill. This volcano-dwelling drill can hold three people and for this particular journey he has chosen himself, "Black Eyed Peas recording artist and science enthusiast will.i.am and actor/producer Seth Green." Branson is quoted as saying, "I have long held a fascination with volcanoes since reading Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Alongside our adventures with Virgin Galactic and Virgin Oceanic, volcanoes are the next great unexplored terrain. What can I say, I lava challenge!". (Are you sure there's not room for one more, Sir Richard? I lava challenge too.)

The team behind Virgin Volcanic believes going to the core of the five most active volcanoes is just the first step. In future this technology can be developed as a clean, safe and fast alternative to trans- continental commercial aviation. By taking the heat from molten lava Virgin Volcanic plans to develop a totally renewable energy source to power the VVS1. It is seen as a way to literally fulfil Richard Branson's philosophy of screwing business as usual.

This would involve going through the Earth rather than round it. Experts predict that one could travel from Hawaii to Naples in a couple of hours via the molten lava flows, with passengers boarding and disembarking from a network of "Earthports" close to the world's volcanoes.

The first Virgin Volcanic trips are scheduled for 2015.

Branson also recently traveled back to 1972 in the Virgin Time Travel machine. He is shown here looking stylish in bell-bottoms, goatee and toting the Virgin Records released album, Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield:

via Tim Holt