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In footage taken before the current expedition, company owner Stockton Rush shows the submarine’s video game controller
Item Information
- Author: Matt Murphy
- Roll, BBC News
- June 20, 2023
Updated 6 hours ago
Before the fiveman crew of a missing submarine could begin its descent to the seabed, they first had to be contained by a relief crew who sealed the opening with bolts.
A search is underway for the small deepdiving vessel operated by shipping company OceanGate Expeditions after it lost contact near the Titanic wreck.
What is titanium?
Credit: AMERICAN PHOTO ARCHIVE/ALAMY
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The interior of the submarine, shown in a previous mission
It is one of the few privately owned manned submarines in the world.
Although OceanGate has also been operating another submarine called the Cyclops since 2015, the Titan (Titan, in Portuguese) was built by the company specifically to allow tourists to visit the wreck of the Titanic.
According to the company, it weighs around 10,432 kg and features a fiveinchthick, aerospacegrade carbon fiber fuselage reinforced with two domed titanium covers.
It is capable of reaching depths of up to 4,000 meters below sea level, far exceeding the deepest diving American submarine the USS Dolphin which reached 900 meters below sea level.
For comparison: the wreck of the Titanic lies 3,800 meters below the surface.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this type of submarine, known by experts as a submersible, has limited power reserves and requires a separate support vessel to launch and recover it.
Titan began sea trials in 2018 before embarking on her maiden voyage in 2021. Last year she made ten dives, though not all of them on the wreck of the Titanic.
As soon as the submarine is uncoupled from its launch and recovery ramp, it reaches a speed of around 4 km/h with its four electric engines.
In one voyage, the company can spend $1 million (about R$5 million) on fuel, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told CBS News last year.
how is it inside
The submarine is extremely narrow, measuring just 670cm x 280cm x 250cm, and can carry a crew of just five a pilot and four passengers.
Though it’s larger than the competition, passengers have to sit on the floor and have limited room to move.
At the front of the ship is a large concaveshaped window (called the porthole) that provides an observation point that the company says is the “largest viewing window of any manned deepsea submersible.”
The walls of the submarine are also heated, as it can get extremely cold at such depths. Wall lamps are the only light source on board.
What is unique, however, is that there is a private guest bathroom at the front of the sub. When used, a small curtain is pulled back and the pilot puts on board music.
However, the company’s website recommends “restricting diet before and during the dive to reduce the likelihood of having to use the facilities.”
The ship is equipped with powerful exterior lights designed to illuminate the Titanic wreck.
There are also multiple 4K cameras on the outside, and an external laser scanner and sonar are used to map the ship. Inside, the crew can view the wrecked ship on a large digital screen while checking the data collected on multiple tablets.
Titan has around 96 hours of oxygen reserves onboard, but this is affected by the crew’s breathing rate.
Much of the interior, the company admits, is made up of various “offtheshelf” parts, which it says have “helped streamline design and simplify operation and part replacement in the field.”
How is the submarine controlled?
GPS tracking no longer works correctly when submarines dive as deep as the Titan.
Instead, a special text messaging system allows the crew to receive instructions from the crew of the surface ship above.
On board, following this guide, the pilot drives with a modified video game controller.
Rush told CBS News last year that piloting the sub “shouldn’t take much skill.”
A full dive to the Titanic wreck, including descent and ascent, is said to take eight hours.
But when CBS correspondent David Pogue took a trip on the Titan in 2018, communications with the submarine were lost and it remained at sea for more than two hours before communications were restored.
What security measures are in place?
Titan has to deal with the tremendous pressure exerted by the ocean at such depths.
According to OceanGate’s website, the company has a realtime hull monitoring system.
In addition, sensors are present to analyze the effects of changing pressures on the submarine during the dive, thus assessing the integrity of the structure.
Credit, DIRTY DOZEN PRODUCTIONS
Before the submarine begins its dive, a support team locks the crew inside by bolting the hatch from the outside and sealing it with 17 bolts.
OceanGate says it is an experimental ship, and when CBS traveled on board, the correspondent was required to sign a waiver accepting that it “was not approved or certified by any regulatory body and did not result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or . . could result in death”.
In a 2019 press release, the company explained why the Titan had not been independently classified. “Notifying an external authority of all innovations before they are tested in the field is anathema to rapid innovation,” he said.
In a promotional video, OceanGate Expeditions software security expert Aaron Newman tells potential customers that submarine travel “isn’t a Disney ride, you know.”
“There are great risks and many challenges associated with this,” he says.
What training did the crew have?
OceanGate makes it clear on its website that paying customers do not need any previous diving experience to board the Titan. The company states that all training required to participate is provided online prior to departure.
Customers must be at least 18 years old and able to sit in confined spaces and climb a ladder for long periods of time.
According to OceanGate, all passengers will receive a safety briefing and orientation session on the ship.
After that, the company says, “You can choose how you want to be involved with the expedition,” offering customers the option to work with communications teams or assist the pilot with navigation.
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The US Coast Guard said a research vessel named Polar Prince conducted a surface search Monday night.