“You’re worried we’ll run out of air, that we’ll die gasping. But we won’t. …We’ll freeze to death first.”
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I stand corrected. Although I suspect that this particular vessel isn’t a bathyscaphe and an uncontrolled ascent would still not end well.
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It would be interesting to know what, if any, additional information is available thanks to the fact that the more aqueous colleagues of NORAD (SHORAD?) have had a strong interest in the activities of submarines for decades.
Mostly significantly bigger and shallower ones; so depending on how all the weird thermal and acoustic phenomena that lurk at sea work SOSUS and its cryptic assortment of newer friends might genuinely have nothing for something that relatively small, deep, and relatively close to Canada, even if it’s putting a lot less effort into sneaking than one of the SEVMASH alumni; but it also wouldn’t be a total surprise if this is one area where there are search capabilities that vastly exceed what the Coast Guard would have given the not-terribly-bustling world of civilian submarining.
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the david sharp connection is just sad. “Oh… that’s just a dead body, it can’t be a fellow climber in need of assistence.”
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I’d assume that ‘getting squished’ follows very close behind; but at 3800 meters you’d also be looking at (mostly) adiabatic compression at a compression ratio of over 300-1, which would mean the sort of heat of compression that would steal Rudolf Diesel’s lunch money and probably exceed his flashpoint.
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As a mechanical engineer that whole story just makes zero sense to me. Here’s one quote:
A submarine and a spacecraft have very little in common structurally, and are basically opposites of each other in their requirements. Flimsy vessels that are designed to contain one atmosphere of pressure on the inside against the vacuum of space would quickly collapse if subjected to even a little external pressure. I’d include a reference to a certain Futurama episode if this was a better time for jokes.
Carbon fiber-wrapped pressure vessels are great for containing high pressures because the fibers can withstand large amounts of tension. But unlike steel, carbon fiber composites are usually way weaker in compression than tension. Not clear to me what the advantage is for use in a submarine. It’s lighter, sure, but that’s not necessarily a benefit for a submarine because it needs to be heavy enough to submerge anyway.
Edit to add:
I found an article with more technical specs on the composite. Still not sure that it’s the right choice for the application, but whatever.
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Can’t be arsed to figure out the PSI at that depth.
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Oh man, I just came across this article from a few years ago about the guy who started this company. Some parts don’t age well.
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I wouldn’t go if you paid me $250,000.
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At the bottom of the trench, the water column above exerts a pressure of 1,086 bar (15,750 psi), more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. At this pressure, the density of water is increased by 4.96%. The temperature at the bottom is 1 to 4 °C (34 to 39 °F).[4]
This sub is at a depth of 3800 m, so maybe 380bar/ 5500 psi
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Water pressure is a pretty linear calculation for most practical purposes. For every 10 meters of depth you add one atmosphere of pressure. So at 3,800 meters thats 380 atmospheres, or 380 × 14psi = yeah approx 5000 psi.
If this sub had a hull breach that water pressure would almost instantaneously crush everything inside. The small volume of air would offer practically no resistance. The occupants probably wouldn’t even have a chance to realize that anything had happened before they were obliterated.
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A silver lining in my opinion. I certainly hope to go quickly when I die. Please don’t let it drag on.
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On their site
Captioned
Titan has the largest viewport of any deep diving submersible 52 cm (21 inches) in diameter.
Maybe the pilot was using it. Maybe the cockpit isn’t big enough for five at a time.
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Yikes, not the first time they’ve lost comms (or, obv, worse) either. With David Pogue on board no less
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The thought of a protracted and claustrophobic death down there is horrific enough that anyone involved gets my sympathy.
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This right there is the problem.
The older I get, the more severely allergic reaction I develop when I hear this phrase.
What I hear is “Your safety is only a concern when it’s a PR disaster. Fuck you and your life, I want Wall Street money.”
Playing with people life hood and retirement is one thing, playing with actual life is whole other matter. This mentality of moving fast and breaking things only “works” for so long. This kind of attitude is so pervasive across multiple industries that it’s seriously becoming a problem (Elmo’s SpaceX and Tesla come to mind)
Dumb fuck like this guy is the reason regulation existing in the first place.
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The climate burns, millions starve or get displaced by conflict, capitalism and democracy fail, and human rights decline, but at least it’s become easier to start unregulated submarine tours for the super rich
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