They just had a story on this on CBS Sunday Morning. A reporter actually went down in the sub but it got called off mid-dive. He had to go back later. It didn't seem safe.
Talk about a live demo going poorly, sheesh.
Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
181–190 of 649 posts
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#182I had no idea that "tourists" visited Titanic. Is this the new thing after Everest became crowded?
Costs about $250k per person - https://oceangateexpeditions.com/tour/titanic-expedition/ (Site looks to be down at the moment, probably overloaded due to people searching after this news). I don't think it's particularly crowded, but certainly could become one day in theory. Cached Link: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bwPF96...
> Costs about $250k per person
Actually, the trip down is free. The $250K is to bring you back... ;-)
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
> mercilessly quickly mercifully quickly?
Huge implosion at very high pressure. Would happen in milliseconds
Reminds me of the story of the first crewed submersible to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. During the descent there was a loud boom, like some something massive broke. After recovering from the shock, they decided to continue the dive, because if it was something important, they would have already been dead.
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the linked article: "OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush says the company had been evaluating the potential of using a carbon fiber composite hull since 2010, primarily because it permits creation of a pressure vessel that is naturally buoyant and, therefore, would enable OceanGate to forgo the use — and the significant expense — of syntactic foam on its exterior."
My first thought was that expanding foam from the hardware store is very cheap, but obviously that sort of foam would be crushed by the water pressure. > Syntactic foams are composite materials synthesized by filling a metal, polymer,[1] cementitious or ceramic matrix with hollow spheres called microballoons[2] or cenospheres or non-hollow spheres (e.g. perlite) as aggregates.[3] In this context, "syntactic" means "p…
I wonder how similar its properties are to air-entrained concrete.
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#185I'm hesitant to speculate but just sharing -- an earlier version of this submersible was scrapped: "OceanGate will take advantage of lessons learned during the construction of its carbon-hulled Titan submersible, which was originally built for Titanic journeys. Rush said tests that were conducted at the Deep Ocean Test Facility in Annapolis, Md., revealed that the Titan’s hull “showed signs of cyclic fatigue.” As a r…
Carbon seems to be the go-to material these days. It often seems to fail catastrophically in ways that, for example, steel does not. I wonder if future engineers will look back at these carbon decades and shake their heads.
I'm no expert, but I do know there's anything fundamentally flawed about polymer composites (including carbon fibre composites) in place of metals.
Composite properties can be fairly accurately measured and tested, just like any other material including plate steel or aluminium.
If a structural failure has occurred, it's related to a design, manufacture or maintenance issue. For example, not enough layers, or a weakness around a joint or fitting.
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a particularly crass thing to say about someone while their life is in jeopardy. >Did it not occur to anyone that it might be a bad idea? It's hard to be sympathetic in the face of such arrogance The company advertises the safety of their submersible and an active suite of sensors to detect and prevent failures.
https://youtu.be/29co_Hksk6o?t=157 Having been linked this elsewhere in the thread I don't quite like the fact that they're so brazen that they bought internal lighting from Camping World and drive it with a Logitech USB gamepad and using half-ass construction piping as a ballast. Or the fact that they scrubbed a Titanic launch for the media due to weather (presenting from some kind of briefing room where they presen…
Thanks for posting that link. However, I came to the opposite conclusion - I was rather impressed. I respect someone who is prepared to make a financial loss whilst breaking new ground technically more than someone who's trying to cut corners on something conventional. (Assuming of course that Stockton Rush is telling the truth about losing money, of course.)
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huge implosion at very high pressure. Would happen in milliseconds
Reminds me of the story of the first crewed submersible to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. During the descent there was a loud boom, like some something massive broke. After recovering from the shock, they decided to continue the dive, because if it was something important, they would have already been dead.
Did they find out what it was?
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good lord, at least use an Xbox controller. They are supported pretty much everywhere and are very durable. The US Navy uses them because they are durable and because new recruits are already intimately familiar with them.
also microsoft has been supplying the navy for a long time.
and the personnel are like 19 years old, so its perfect for game controllers
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
TBH at this stage we just don't know. They might not have imploded but instead been left stranded on the bottom with an intact pressure hull but some other sort of equipment failure. Still a hopeless situation unfortunately.
Best case outcome at this point seems like it would be that they're on the surface, off target, with a complete communications failure. I hope that or something similar is the case, but the odds seem low.
At least James Cameron can potentially make a sequel.
Re: Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
David Pogue, who traveled to the Titanic with OceanGate last summer, has said that he was on the control ship when a previous sub was "lost for about 5 hours". Source: https://twitter.com/Pogue/status/1670835763536183297
Jesus. This sounds like this group is just taking billionaires' money while running a death trap. How the hell do you lose your sub for five hours? This should have stopped all trips until they fixed this problem through a combination of technical and procedural changes.
when you put it like that i'm suddenly pro death trap