Missing Titanic submarine

[Twinklesgolden]

How horrifying that a submarine carrying 5 people has gone missing. Apparently there’s only 96 hours of air on the submarine when it sets off.

The people on board must be terrified!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65953872.amp

I thought the same thing. Their poor families.

Google says this:
"Do black boxes work underwater?
Suppose the plane goes down over the water. In that case, once the black box comes into contact with water, a sensor activates an underwater locator beacon (pinger) that sends out an ultrasonic pulse. While human ears cannot hear the ping, submarines, ships, and aircraft can easily detect it using sonar equipment."

And the submersible already seemed to be equipped with a "pinger" - it's just that it failed for some reason.

Absolutely this

There aren't many comms that can travel through water due to the way they're transmitted. There are very good reasons manned vessels generally don't dive this deep, even the disparity between the maximum dive of a military sub and this are huge (and scary)- and one is a real feat of engineering which whilst not invincible by any means has many safety features and fullbacks.

Sonar still has limitations, even the most advanced is also hindered by objects in the way and has a max reach. At this astronomical depth and with lots unknown about the area underwater it wouldn't be reliable anyway.

It only has one button inside! It’s essentially sealed a tin can with a little window and a little propeller on the back which they steer using a PS4 controller.

Sonar still has limitations, even the most advanced is also hindered by objects in the way and has a max reach. At this astronomical depth and with lots unknown about the area underwater it wouldn't be reliable anyway.

Yes, and very much hindered by the debris from the wreckage.

The area is so vast and so remote, too. Fingers crossed for a good outcome, but it's not looking good.

I hope they are found safe and well, but I'm a horrible person, because when I read that it's basically an adventure jolly for multi-millionaires, my sympathy level dropped a few rungs.

It looks like a "free swimming" submersible. I see three main scenarios. It imploded and everyone died very quickly. It surfaced and is bobbing on the ocean somewhere; these submersibles are usually designed to surface by themselves if something goes wrong, but a small boat in a big ocean is hard to find and the occupants can't open the hatch from the inside apparently. Or it's stuck down there because the ballast release went wrong or it got snagged or entangled on something.

I hope they are found safe and well, but I'm a horrible person, because when I read that it's basically an adventure jolly for multi-millionaires, my sympathy level dropped a few rungs.

Most of MN hang on every word of a multi-millionaire so you might want to rethink your views.

Ok now I understand it a bit better, having thought why would it not just surface somewhere and open the hatch if running out of air? Can't believe that such a vehicle should not be capable of this, for just such a scenario. If I was spending £££££ to go on a jaunt like this, I'd like to think that ALL eventualities have been thought of.

What was the point of this? Just to view the Titanic? Or was there more meaning behind it?

Pretty sure it was simply to view it.

The more scientific research missions to the titanic are mostly unmanned and much bigger enterprises, with multiple support vessels etc.

For good reason!

*Igneococcus" · Today 08:34

I've been out to sea with ROVs as well (again US research ships)

Oh? I like doing video review on ROV jobs, getting to see all the weird and wonderful marine life.

I'm hoping it's something simple, like the USBL beacon battery dying, which they do tend to do.

I have no idea if it's got ballast weights, or air blown ballast tanks. I'd hope the it's got neutral buoyancy - ROVs tend to have and need to drive down to the bottom.

The hatch can only be opened by undoing 17 (?) bolts from the outside - there’s no way to open it from inside.

James Cameron, mentioned down thread, has been down to the wreckage several times (and like Hamish Harding set records for depth travel). What sort of craft would he have been in? Does anyone know?

I think he said something about other, similar, trips to Titanic where one sub assisted when another had become lodged in the wreckage.

The Telegraph is reporting that The Magellan is sitting (in Guernsey) ready to deploy, but it has not received US permission to join the rescue/recovery mission.

It's a remotely operated vessel capable of operating at that depth (to 5000m, so has a safety margin) and, according to the article, is thought to be the only one in the world with a winch.

(Article says US appears to prefer to use a New York based vessel, but The Telegraph's description says it has no winch and operating depth is to 3000m)

If the thing is so flimsy and basically cost £200 to build, what are they paying $250m each for??

If the hatch could be opened from the inside, doing so on the surface would be quite likely to flood the sub and sink it, and then you'd have the occupants swimming in the North Atlantic with poor survival prospects. Opening the hatch at depth would still be impossible. That might be why the design is for opening from the outside only.

See the post on this thread by CrunchyCarrot today 09:34, which has info and links about James Cameron and the vessel (which is now in a museum)

In the news it says it's operated by a controller like a play station type thing from the surface ship

Supporting vessels and so on. Lots of other costs involved.

No, it's controlled with a games controller from within the sub.

This tweet gives a good idea of the depth the Titanic is at. If they were only a couple of hours into their journey, they won't be down as far as the ship, presumably, and still desending.

That is very sad. But why are they in there in the first place. I dont get it. Haven't seen or read much about it