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Posted on 06/20/2023 6:40:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
The desperate search for a missing submersible that vanished during a mission to explore the wreck of the Titanic continued on Tuesday as more information about those onboard came to light.
The submersible, which is part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that offers passengers a once-in-a-lifetime experience to explore the Titanic wreckage, went missing on Sunday after losing contact with the research vessel Polar Prince.
British billionaire and owner of Action Aviation Hamish Harding was among the five people onboard the vessel, along with prominent Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman. The other two people onboard have yet to be identified.
Submersible was operated with a video game controller - Marlene Lenthang
Titan, the missing tourist submersible was operated by a video game controller and had parts that were described as “off-the-shelf components.”
During a tour of the vessel in a CBS News segment aired in November, OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush pointed out some of these unexpected features including a light fixture from CamperWorld and a makeshift toilet with a plastic bottle.
He brought out a Logitech game controller saying, “we run the whole thing with this.” It was not immediately clear whether the submersible was operated with such a controller during the latest mission.
OceanGate’s website describes the five-person submersible as a combination of “ground-breaking engineering and off-the-shelf technology,” the latter of which “helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.”
Thoughts of crew and their families driving search efforts - Marlene Lenthang
In the desperate search for the missing vessel touring the shipwreck of the Titanic deep in the Atlantic, crews are thinking of the lives of the five people on board first and foremost.
“The thoughts of the crew members and their families really drive our crews forward and all of the partners that have been working this complex case to make sure we can continue to find them,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said Tuesday morning on NBC's "TODAY" show.
Factors such as oxygen levels, intense water pressure, and the remoteness of the area make the search difficult.
The ship went down Sunday with four days worth of oxygen. The wreckage of the Titanic is also at a depth of 13,000 feet — too deep for typical U.S. Navy subs, which typically go down to 2,000 or 3,000 feet, to descend to.
Canadian aircraft dropped a sonar buoy into the ocean listening for tapping or talking in an effort to pinpoint the submersible.
1h ago / 7:37 AM CDT OceanGate Expeditions leading underwater search - Marlene Lenthang
OceanGate Expeditions is leading the underwater search for the missing Titanic tourist submersible because the deep-water exploration company “know[s] that site better than anybody else,” Rear Adm. John Mauger with the Coast Guard said on NBC's “TODAY” show Tuesday morning.
As the search for the 21-foot submersible entered the third day, Mauger said search crews have an “understanding” of where the submersible was operating and searches are being prioritized in those areas.
The wreckage of the Titanic sits 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Searches are underway with equipment the Coast Guard has brought to the area. The agency's current focus is on getting more assets and technical experts to the scene as fast as possible.
2h ago / 6:58 AM CDT What did the Titanic expedition set out to achieve? - Chantal Da Silva
The submersible that disappeared Sunday was on only its third trip since OceanGate Expeditions began offering them in 2021.
On its website, the company said the expeditions are intended to "further document the Titanic and its rate of decay."
"Given the massive scale of the wreck and the debris field, multiple missions performed over several years will be required to fully document and model the wreck site," it says. "This longitudinal survey to collect images, videos, laser, and sonar data will allow objective assessment of the rate of decay and documentation of the process."
"Qualified explorers have the opportunity to join the expedition as Mission Specialist crewmembers whose Training and Mission Support Fees underwrite the mission, the participation of the science team, and their own training," the company states.
Yes - but even science and mapping can be done by drones now.
There’s no reason for this.
I listened to an interview with a journalist who had been on the sub (they did not make it all the way to the Titanic) and there was little to no redundancy in many systems.
In addition to the laundry list of what could have gone wrong I am guessing they used lithium-ion batteries.
I did hear reported this morning g that they were preparing a drone to go down and take a look.
At 250k a trip I am guessing they were making $$$$
They sleep with the fishes.
Media coverage still says that they can be rescued. Is that even possible?
I’ve been hearing communication between the submersable and the ship has been an ongoing issue.
I’m no engineer by any stretch but you’d think there would be a contingency plan in place in case of this very scenario like a self contained way for the submersible to asend back to the surface in case of emergency.
I hope it turns out well but it dolook good at all.
Military jets have ejection seats as a last resort for a reason.
Possible and probable are 2 very different expectations.
Having a good deal of experience as a submariner the probable one is unlikely, very unlikely.
At the depth of the Titanic, not possible..................
RIP fellow pilgrams,,,
Murphy’s Law uber alles.....................
Probably runs on Windows and either had an OS update that crashed or hit a divide by zero error.
“Do you feel the same way about Space tourism? Virgin Galactic shouldn’t be selling rides to near space?”
Generally, yes. It’s very dangerous. I didn’t say it should be banned, or anything like that. People like to take risks and if they want to risk their own lives, they can. I’m just not of that sort. I have no interest in bungi-jumping or skydiving, or mountain climbing, etc.
Have they located it yet?
Very sorry for the families involved.
It looks very doubtful at this point, but the media wants to keep the viewers tuned in by continuing to pitch the possibility of a rescue.
I agree. We also need to get tourists out of the dirigibles and aeroplanes and leave those to scientists and military men. Common people can use trains and ocean liners for travel.
The tourists paid $250,000 each.
That raises a lot of funds for the company involved, that equipment cannot be cheap.
Not that has been reported.
I assume that if they do find it, the families will be notified privately before the public is..............
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