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It's worth contrasting the design of this vehicle with what is ostensibly the world standard for deep-sea research submersibles, Alvin of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. https://www.whoi.edu/what-we-do/explore/underwater-vehicles/...
EDIT: 30 days between maintenance. I’m a dirty skimmer.
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Fascinating theyre relying on starlink for operations. I heard starlink was fairly unreliable from folks who have it in remote areas.
What better alternatives would they have in the middle of the ocean?
This had me curious if I could find coverage maps of satellite operators, and I found this: https://www.satphonestore.com/coveragemaps
Skimming the website, I assume this submersible is using electromagnetically attached drop-weights so that if anything goes wrong and power is lost, the weights drop off and the submersible floats up to the surface again? And 96 hours of life support sounds good, but unless there is another submersible nearby that can dive down, find them AND attach a line, the number of hours of life support will be irrelevant. Of c…
I understand why oceanographers /might/ want to do this, but not in person when ROV tech is so good now, for biology and tourism. There are so many things that can happen to fragile humans in that complex machine: drowning, freezing, asphyxiating, crushing, oxygen narcosis, nitrogen narcosis, co2 poisoning, and the plain old bends.
So why do people risk all that, and pay 125k to do it? Why the titanic obsession? It's only the fourth worst maritime disaster (Doña Paz in 1987 had 4k deaths) and so what if someone made a movie about one.
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The structural problems for space vessels vs submersibles I might believe to be quite different. In space the main issue is containing internal pressure - so the skin is all in tension. While a submersible the pressure is from without - so the skin is all in compression.
Also of note, the pressure differences are much higher in submersibles.
Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Professor: Well, it’s a spaceship, so I’d say anywhere between zero and one…
This appears to be the vessel in question: https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html Pressure hull made from titanium and carbon fiber, capable of diving to 4000m (13,000 ft). I recall that one reason SpaceX switched from carbon fiber to stainless steel pressure vessels (fuel tanks) was the difficulty of detecting structural flaws. Can any engineers comment on whether that task is easier for a vessel expo…
Skimming the website, I assume this submersible is using electromagnetically attached drop-weights so that if anything goes wrong and power is lost, the weights drop off and the submersible floats up to the surface again? And 96 hours of life support sounds good, but unless there is another submersible nearby that can dive down, find them AND attach a line, the number of hours of life support will be irrelevant. Of c…
mercifully quickly?
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Fascinating theyre relying on starlink for operations. I heard starlink was fairly unreliable from folks who have it in remote areas.
What better alternatives would they have in the middle of the ocean?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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I wonder if they award multiple Darwin awards at once?
I'd also imagine that the tourists trusted the reputation of the operator. Both the state of the equipment and that their safety checks and processes were stringent. Especially since they claimed to aid in the science.
There aren't many priors for civilian submarine disasters.
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Not sure it's exactly a comforting thought but at this depth they wouldn't have drowned.