Titanic tourist submersible goes missing with search under way

magicbastarder

wasn't it metal gear solid where you beat the boss by confusing her by unplugging the controller and plugging it in on a different port?

AmpMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738863#Comment_120738863

If you watch the video its not even a real microsoft controller. Its a **** lodgitech bluetooth controller.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739688#Comment_120739688

For the record I doubt it (game controllers) had anything to do with the accident. But it doesn't reflect well on the designers thought process or approach to risk management. In a tiny sub where nobody can move there is no need for a wireless controller. Why would you put one in and introduce extra complexity and danger..

The central pressure hull was carbon fiber. That's more likely to be the culprit. It's a very unforgiving material. Get it wrong and it fails without much warning. Nobody makes subs out of carbon fiber. So you want to be one of the first to do it.... while also doing it on the cheap... while also going way deeper than most subs. That's too much boundary pushing in one project.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739679#Comment_120739679

Any sort of 'float free' EPIRB would have to survive the regular dives to 3,800m on a sub like this, and I doubt there'd be anything around commercially that could even handle that job!! and developing one would be a nightmare.

If there was one inside the sub, or even a PLB, the chances of the signal getting outside the cabin (even on the surface) would be slim to none...

Nevertheless, I'd still have one, and maybe an AIS beacon & handheld VHF which are both radio signal based.. (and both of which I could pick up from my local marine chandlers in Swords in about 30 minutes if I wanted, and would probably have change left from €500)

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738286#Comment_120738286

Yeah ive watched a few videos as well. If they drop their ballast and rise to the surface, they can't just pop the hatch and let in fresh air, they got bolted into the sub from the outside. So, if they will or have made it to the surface, they still need to be found by thursday or they suffocate.

AndyBoBandy

the 96 hours of quoted 'spare' oxygen they have, was that not from the weekend onwards when they went missing (or should have returned).. so 3 days ago, meaning at best maybe 24 hours worth left?

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739937#Comment_120739937

Yes it was, supposed to have lost contact in the descent to the dive site.

A cable laying ship is now at the scene with a ROV that can dive to 3000m

The Deep Energy, a Bahamas-flagged ship which specialises in laying pipe and cables at depths of up to 3,000 metres (9,842 feet), is helping with the search effort for the missing submersible.

The Deep Energy carries two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), which can dive to 3,000 metres.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739179#Comment_120739179

Countries have used parts of x Boxes for ballistic missile guidance etc.

Though I get your point. There is a DIY project off it all.

AndyBoBandy

Just seeing this on the BBC, the company mentions life support submerged for 96 hours, so that clock essentially started ticking the moment the hatch was bolted shut!

The submersible has a pressure hull to withstand the external pressure underwater. Therefore, the crew should be under normal pressure of atmosphere like on the surface and breathing normal air.

However, after an extended period of time, oxygen will be consumed and CO2 will be produced.

According to the company's specification, the Titan has life support underwater for 96 hours.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739937#Comment_120739937

That information is not clear. Neither is the timeline. What one ex-Navy commentator I heard say was, loss of comms with this and other subs is quite common. You dont call the coast guard if you have lost contact with the sub for two hours, 8-12 hours is more likely. So they could be a day into their air supply when the alarm was sounded. I've heard Thursday quoted as the deadline for finding them,

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739996#Comment_120739996

3000m is bugger all use when the sea floor is 4000m

the.red.baron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739921#Comment_120739921

sure they have to have someway of finding the sub when it surfaced or it would have been single use

the.red.baron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740051#Comment_120740051

its probably rated to 3000m but could do more and if it doesn't make it you just buy a new one

DellyBelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740048#Comment_120740048

So they could be still alive in a small tin box under the sea. Just the though of it is frightening..what if they need to go to the toilet?

Gussie Scrotch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740219#Comment_120740219

I think that would be the least of their worries.................

cdeb

They've a chemical toilet per the video linked earlier.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740219#Comment_120740219

They could be still alive floating on the surface, but they can't get out, so if they aren't found in time its still curtains.

waterwelly

The media trying to make this sound relevant. But really, it isn't.

kirk.

French robot vessel on the way

Suppose they have to go through the motions for all the good it'll do unless the craft is found on surface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739228#Comment_120739228

Having flown an (small) real airplane, wouldn’t fancy sim gear controlling a real life vehicle tbh. Is it manufactured to stand up to forces or to be used in real life scenarios? It’s one thing controlling robots around a static situation like a power station with alternative back-up methods, I wouldn’t fancy being hurled about in unexpected turbulence or forces with anything less than robust and designed and manufactured for purpose.

BorneTobyWilde

Even if it's on the surface bopping away, there is no way for them to get out of it, it's bolted together with 17 bolts, no way out, only way out is if it's found and someone undo's the bolts.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740219#Comment_120740219

Chem toilet, but with the terror they’ve likely been through I imagine they’ve all had to use it simultaneously so to speak.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740706#Comment_120740706

And you’d have to assume now with time running out, that every ship and helicopter out there looking for them would be equipped with the correct tools to unbolt the hatch…

Id imaging with the pressures it deals with, you are not unbolting it with standard socket set or a big spanner….. im thinking something hydraulic like a HyTorc of something…..

Or with it being carbon fibre I would’ve could you drill a few air holes into it?

Scipri0

Just had a look on the company youtube page and having a look at the actual sub involved. Bolted from the outside, small and cramped and actually resembles the inside of a crematorium. One button to switch it on and everything else is touchscreen.

Imagine being on the bottom of the seabed and bolted into a tiny cramped space and your oxegen supply running out. Or the power cuts out and they've no way of controlling it. or else it imploded which is more preferable than lying on the seabed waiting to die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClkytJa0ghc

LambshankRedemption

US Coast Guard: 41 hours of oxygen left.

It sounds like the only ship onsite is the OceanGate vessel itself. Coast Guard ships will take between 2 and 6 days to get there.

There is really no good news from this press conference.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740755#Comment_120740755

No redundancies built in, the engineering of a hyper enthusiastic idiot.

Juran

I presumed the sub was brought out on a large ship and lowered into the water above the site. Then when it came up, it was lifted onto the ship with a full support crew, medics, etc. But I just saw a video on CNN ... the sub sits on a little platform, the platform scoots from Newfoundland to the sites, with no crew. The platform journey must take hours. Has anyone else seen this ? Did I pick this up wrong ?

in the name of God why didn’t the engineer build in a guide wire system such that comms & retrieval equipment could be pushed down in an emergency. I’m thinking along the lines of a greatly scaled up system as used in ERCP surgery.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740901#Comment_120740901

You have picked that up wrong. The Titan was brought to the area by the Polar Prince which is Canadian registered Tender. It is 67 metres long. The platform you mentioned is slid off the stern, into the water, The platform with the Titan on it, descends about 30 metres, and then the Titan lifts off the platform and continues its descent.

Scipri0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740854#Comment_120740854

When i was watching that video last night i was saying to myself nope!! Even the Russian sub that was used to visit the titanic before is a lot preferable then this Titan one that was lost.