So part of their disruptive, innovative approach was to utilize materials such as carbon fiber that are untested for such uses and is known for working really well - until it fails catastrophically? Great stuff to build a hull out of (especially when weight isn’t even an issue). Also apparently all the passengers have tasks during voyages, and if they don’t do everything exactly right, everyone dies. Yep, I can’t see what could have gone wrong…
It’s really sounding like there isn’t a plausible way they could just be stuck in deep water without the ability to surface, so either something went seriously wrong and everyone died instantly, or they dropped ballast and are floating around on the surface somewhere waiting to be picked up, perfectly fine but without comms. It’s also sounding like the first option is far more likely. It’s a small mercy, I guess.
Well, it’s sounding like it probably imploded somewhere on its way to/from the wreck, and with a carbon fiber hull, it would turn into mostly tiny fragments, potentially moved around by currents/scattered on its way drifting to the sea floor. At a depth most submersibles can’t reach and sonar gives you a limited picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if they never find it, frankly.
Well, it was the size of a minivan…
I know, right? I keep reading stories about various carbon fiber structures under stress and how they fail explosively, and it suggests the bulk of the submersible likely imploded into a bunch of tiny pieces they’ll never find.
Yep. As his name suggests - Stockton Rush!? - dude was a real piece of work. He was all about marketing his way to wealth and fame, like Branson and Musk. Good riddance.
I’ve seen that CBS report, and some photos. Now, I’d be hard pressed to get on board of any submarine, but there is no amount of money you could pay me to get into that thing. It looks like it 100% guarantees death for everyone on board.
The wreck is in two major parts separated by 600 metres, and surrounded by a debris field of several square miles of sea floor. It’s 3,8000 metres down. This is a surprisingly difficult place to search. Magnetic anomaly detectors probably would be useless. If the sub is on the floor, active sonar would be useless. This leaves passive sonar, meaning listening for knocking sounds, and visual search, as your two options. To do visual search you have to send down another sub.
Reportedly there have been some knocking noises detected.
So I’m sure the CEO and the HR people involved are now going to be charged with manslaughter (x5) right? Having just been down this road with a company where I raised a human safety concern when the SVP above me told me to modify electrical equipment in ways that were not supported by the manufacturer, and I left the company after the HR people petted me on the head and asked about me being upset with my boss. We really need some of these fucking idiots to spend some quality time in jail.
So my question is…who are the competitor companies? It looks like maybe 250 people have taken sub dives to Titanic… Including of course Ballard, and James Cameron, and Richard Garrott (“Lord British”) went once. How many different companies offer this service?
Do the other companies charge $500,000, is that why this $250,000 offer was attractive? The French guy who is missing has made 35 previous dives (he owns the company who does those travelling Titanic exhibits with artifacts they’ve picked up from the seabed). Why would this guy switch companies? This sub has no capability to pick up objects. What was his incentive to make a 35th or 36th dive with another company?
There are no other companies that offer an off the shelf dive like that. Those other people organised their own expeditions, or were part of expeditions organised by others. And I would hesitate to call Ballard and Cameron tourists. The first one was there as an explorer, and the second one as a filmmaker.
Indeed. And afaik he organised his own expedition with a Russian Mir DSV. At the very least, he couldn’t just buy a trip like it is/was possible with OceanGate
My point was, international water isn’t necessarily a free for all.
The other thing is, the site is regulated by some sort of international treaty that has rules about who and how it can be explored or researched.
I would think there might be some rules that say you can’t just drop a submersible onto the site without a way to retrieve it should something go wrong or that it doesn’t damage the site if it drops like a mini van into the site.
Previously, the site of the wreck, discovered in 1985, was primarily protected by UNESCO regulations. At a 2001 convention, the U.N. cultural organization set out a series of ground rules for sites deemed to be part of the world’s underwater cultural heritage, such as the Titanic wreck. The agreement calls for preserving these remains in their original position and banning commercial exploitation, among other stipulations.
The deal that recently came into force with U.S. and U.K. approval expands on those rules, laying out specific guidelines on how to grant and obtain licenses to explore the ship’s remains, and how to punish those who violate them.
UNESCO covers the Titanic now, and there’s that agreement you linked, but for the most part there’s nobody to really enforce it or stop anyone. Sure, the US and UK can issue and deny permits, but clearly that doesn’t stop anyone from just claiming they’re “researchers” and going down there anyway… Because Oceangate is registered in the US as a for profit country, it means either they got a permit to do this as “a research vessel” or they just ignored it. Given it’s a techbro, I’d wager it’s that they just ignore this treaty.
I’m more curious as to the logistics of the trip. Reports have said they have between 72-96 hours of oxygen. That’s 3 or 4 days…in a small metal tube with 4 other people.
I’m sure the designed trip took maybe a day? But 4 days in a small metal tube with four other people? Where do you poop?
I think I would fear loosing power and sinking more than anything. Not like, we are going to hit bottom and suffocate to death. More like a long descent in total darkness with the knowledge the ship is going to implode at any moment. NOPE I’m good riding the couch and watching it on TV.
