It’s surprising how many people have been on it. I guess their luck innovation finally ran out.
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I wonder whether they even considered design life. Or if they did, what data the projections were based on. Other than a random number their brilliant CEO pulled out of his ass.
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Exactly. How many compression cycles can that “innovative” carbon fibre shell handle? Have they been analyzing it for stress fractures after every dive? I think we all know the answer to that.
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This moment just became a little too appropriate.
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Hey, every successful trip is just one more confirmation of how safe the vessel is.
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The ALVIN sub has safety features along these lines. It is positively buoyant, with weights that provide negative buoyancy. The weights are jettisoned at the end of each dive, and the sub surfaces by its own buoyancy. For safety, the weights are attached using sacrificial anodes that dissolve after a set time period, which is longer than a typical dive, but shorter than the oxygen supply. So if the sub is down too long, the anodes dissolve and the sub surfaces.
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Those are all great ideas. Weird- it’s almost like the people who designed it know what they’re doing. But are they disrupting anything?
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It’s almost as if, when you get serious people like scientists and empowered oversight boards together, good shit happens and people survive it.
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Translation (click through):
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According to an NPR story yesterday this sub supposedly had a very similar system:
But obviously that didn’t work out for them. Either the sub imploded or these “redundancies” were just poorly engineered/implemented, or maybe the company just lied about the redundant features and didn’t install them all. These do seem like the kind of folks who would cheap out on installing new dissolvable hooks after every dive.
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I think the guys who make subs for the drug cartels are more talented.
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They tried.
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Everyone knows that.
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This is homebrew project. There is a reason vessel capable of this depth cost an arm and a leg. Ignoring experts and test engineers advice, no certifiable parts by relevant authority, cheap out on everything so no redundant fail-safe backup mechanic. I mean the thing was built with assumption that it won’t fail. Those pesky safety measures will only get in the way of “innovation” according to the CEO.
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I was about to comment and say that lengthened thumbsticks give more precise control, as they effectively provide more degrees of movement at the end of the stick than at the base.
Then I clicked on the photo and realised that they’re not even glued on straight, which means they would be actively making the controls worse. I wouldn’t play video games with that abomination, let alone trust it to take me safely down to two miles below the sea.
For that matter, why is it wireless? Why, if they’re spending so much on the rest of the vessel, did they choose a £30 controller with known issues and then mod it badly? Why not choose a pair of wired flight sim joysticks or a HOTAS controller, that would actually give them the precision they need in the first place?
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Because “innovation” was not the goal, safety is. Although, safety here has more meaning than the sub crew safety.
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I guess there doesn’t always have to be a morning after.
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I love how the most hardcore scientific equipment that we have always looks like a first-gen prototype of a home appliance with all the guts showing. No intentional aesthetic design or exaggerated hydro/aero dynamics, just pure function. Like the Voyager probe’s no nonsense clump of instruments compared with the space shuttle. Or the CURV ROV vs the little fucking teardrop squirt these idiots crammed into.
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How much food would they have left?
The update has now turned towards what food and drinks would be left for the crew in the missing sub.
Capt Frederick says: “They do have limited rations aboard but I can’t tell you exactly how much.”
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