![]() That’s possible: Titan has a series of redundant safety measures that would allow it to dump its ballast and return to surface automatically if there is a system failure or if the pilot is incapacitated. Is there a chance Titan has made it to the surface and we don’t know it yet? So another possibility is that a non-crewed submersible, like an ROV, or remotely operated vehicle, can somehow secure Titan on the seafloor and bring it to the surface. The vessel’s novel carbon fiber composite and titanium structure was designed to withstand the extreme pressure of the Titanic environment, but the design requires the passengers to be literally “drilled shut” into the craft from outside.Īny recovery of people would need to be done at the surface. )Įven if there were a submarine capable of traveling to the area, there would be no way to transfer passengers from Titan to the rescue sub-because the submersible has no hatch. ( Can anyone visit the Titanic wreck? Go inside a lucrative tourism industry. If Titan is at the bottom of the ocean, how would they get people out?įirst, you need a vessel that can also travel to the extreme depths around Titanic-and there’s very few of them on the planet. The wreck lies at about 12,500 feet, an environment that’s dark (sunlight in ocean water is usually completely gone by 3,000 feet) incredibly cold (bottom temps at this time of year can hover around 36☏ahrenheit, which requires a heated cabin) and under extreme pressure-nearly 400 times the pressure people experience at sea level. What are the conditions around the Titanic wreck site? ![]() This communication may get disrupted if Titan is no longer in an upright position or entangled at the bottom. ![]() Very limited texting from Titan to the support ship is available via a sort of “acoustic modem” if the submersible is in the right range. ![]() Titan communicates with its support vessel using acoustic systems that send pings back and forth to provide its location. The particular physics of water and extreme depth in the area means that technologies we use on land and even in space, like satellite communications and GPS, won’t work. Why haven’t we heard from the crew? Can’t they just use a satellite phone? When it’s ready to return, the vessel drops ballast and floats to re-dock at the platform, which is then raised to the support ship. Four electric thrusters help the neutrally buoyant Titan navigate on the seafloor. It’s lowered about 30 feet, or below the surface wave action, on a tethered platform, and then uses ballast to drop down the remaining 12,500 feet. ![]() Unlike a submarine, which can sail in and out of ports on its own power, the 20-foot-long, 20,000-pound Titan is a submersible, which means it’s dependent on a surface support ship that transports it to a site. ( Bob Ballard and James Cameron on what we can learn from the Titan tragedy.) Their last communication was roughly 100 minutes after their descent. There are a number of factors that will make any rescue or recovery incredibly difficult-including the remoteness of the area, the extreme depth of the site, and the fact that the five-person crew had 96 hours maximum of emergency air when they first descended. The Oceangate submersible Titan has been missing near the Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic since early Sunday morning. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |