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Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

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Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#21

Post by truemotive »

rirze wrote: post #11

I have a dumb idea; how hard is it to add a location tracker to these kind of subs? Does the high pressure make this incredibly hard to add?

The most frustrating is reading somewhere, I can't remember, that there was some discussion about beacons after having lost comms during an excursion in the past. The conversation apparently didn't get there.

My first proper job in my career was IT for a maritime navigation company. This must have been around 2000, and we were selling these to normal people that have boats. I can't believe they did not integrate EPIRB into something like this triggered by an emergency trigger within the vehicle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_position-indicating_...

The facts that even if the unclear "7 ways" to surface in case of emergency, that a) the ship doesn't know where the submersible is located, which GPS would easily solve for and b) if it does manage to use one of these seven ways there's no way to exit the vehicle is absolutely criminal.

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#23

Post by mpreda »

I wonder why the submersible was not equipped with redundant "self surface" systems. I imagine the overall density of this submersible to be close to that of water. Such that dropping some amount of ballast (like the metallic rails underneath) may lighten it enough to self-surface. In addition, some emergency "baloons" may be fitted, inflatable in an emergency by CO2 capsules to resurface. And an emergency system to open the sub (e.g. by blowing up a hole somewhere convenient) could be added as well to allow exit once at surface.

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#24

Post by gene91 »

mpreda wrote: post #23

I wonder why the submersible was not equipped with redundant "self surface" systems. I imagine the overall density of this submersible to be close to that of water. Such that dropping some amount of ballast (like the metallic rails underneath) may lighten it enough to self-surface. In addition, some emergency "baloons" may be fitted, inflatable in an emergency by CO2 capsules to resurface. And an emergency system to…

Not sure whether it’s applicable here. But when learning scuba diving, we were taught (or rather reminded of, from middle school physics) that a balloon would become bigger as one gets closer to the surface. A balloon 90m under water will be 10X the size when it’s at surface. Therefore, using a balloon for emergency surfacing will lead to a monotonically increasing acceleration rate (which means you’ll going be too fast), or probably bursting the balloon half way through.

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#25

Post by numpad0 »

AustinDev wrote: post #3

Wow, this is the worst possible situation, if true. They're likely to run out of breathable air long before they can be rescued. I'm hoping they make it out but, I personally would have opted for an implosion if I was in the same situation. The suffering they're enduring, if actually alive, is pretty rare. I can't imagine what is potentially going through their heads. If they are alive the 8 hour delay from Oceangate…

Isn't it just a relatively doable matter, of hooking up a wire by a robot and pulling out to the surface, assuming a suitable robot can be flown and deployed soon enough?

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#26

Post by prox »

flangola7 wrote: post #5
graypegg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being in an enclosed space, knowing no one else can hear you, surrounded by people probably having a panic attack, at the bottom of the ocean in total darkness while you are slowly noticing the air getting harder and harder to breathe… yeah I would’ve taken the hull imploding over 80-something hours of that. One guy is down there with his 19yo son… empathy is a powerful thing, imagining that situation just makes my h…

It is also close to freezing temperatures

And even if they were to surface, the bolts of the hatch can only be opened from the outside

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#27

Post by [deleted] »

AustinDev wrote: post #3

Wow, this is the worst possible situation, if true. They're likely to run out of breathable air long before they can be rescued. I'm hoping they make it out but, I personally would have opted for an implosion if I was in the same situation. The suffering they're enduring, if actually alive, is pretty rare. I can't imagine what is potentially going through their heads. If they are alive the 8 hour delay from Oceangate…

[deleted]

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#28

Post by madaxe_again »

mpreda wrote: post #23

I wonder why the submersible was not equipped with redundant "self surface" systems. I imagine the overall density of this submersible to be close to that of water. Such that dropping some amount of ballast (like the metallic rails underneath) may lighten it enough to self-surface. In addition, some emergency "baloons" may be fitted, inflatable in an emergency by CO2 capsules to resurface. And an emergency system to…

It is. It has electromagnetic drop weights that are meant to detach on power failure.

Thing is, when it’s out of the water and the power is off, there’s going to be a mechanism, bolts or dogs or zip ties or whatever, to keep them on - and someone has to remember to detach those as part of the launch.

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#29

Post by madaxe_again »

HWR_14 wrote: post #9
AustinDev wrote: post #3

Wow, this is the worst possible situation, if true. They're likely to run out of breathable air long before they can be rescued. I'm hoping they make it out but, I personally would have opted for an implosion if I was in the same situation. The suffering they're enduring, if actually alive, is pretty rare. I can't imagine what is potentially going through their heads. If they are alive the 8 hour delay from Oceangate…

They have another ~30 hours of air. The biggest hope is that they are not terribly deep trapped near the surface and can be located in that time.

Air is great and all, but hypothermia will get them first.

Re: Banging sounds heard during Titan search, according to internal government memo

#30

Post by prox »

yellow_lead wrote: post #17
rirze wrote: post #11

I have a dumb idea; how hard is it to add a location tracker to these kind of subs? Does the high pressure make this incredibly hard to add?

Just add a line. It's only 2 miles.

Apparently having a tether is not a bad option. So what’s the reason they didn’t go for it?
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