Why is the rescue of the Titanic submarine so difficult?

by time news

2023-06-21 09:52:00

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He submarine Titanfrom the OceanGate company, is missing near the scene where lies the Titanicin the North Atlantic since early Sunday morning.

Video: 12 notes on the Titanic, the most famous shipwreck in the world

There are several factors that make any rescue or recovery operation difficult, including the remoteness of the site, the extreme depth and the fact that the crew of five had a maximum of 96 hours of emergency oxygen when they descended. His last communication was approximately 100 minutes after his descent..

This is the submersible that disappeared while visiting the Titanic

The physical characteristics of the water and the extreme depth in the area mean that the technologies we use on land and in space, such as satellite communications and GPS, do not work. Titan communicates with its support ship using acoustic systems that send signals to provide its location..

Very limited text from the Titan to the ship is possible via a sort of “acoustic modem” if the sub is in proper range, but this communication can be interrupted if the Titan is no longer in an upright position or if it is tangled in the background.

Cold, without light and under extreme pressure

The shipwreck lies at a depth of 3,800 metersin a dark environment (sunlight in ocean water generally disappears completely at this depth), incredibly cold (temperatures can be around 2ºC, requiring a heated cabin), and under extreme pressure (almost 400 times the pressure that people experience at sea level).

Can someone be rescued in these conditions?

First of all, to carry out a salvage operation, you would need a vehicle that can also travel to the extreme depths in which the Titanic is located, and there are very few such vehicles in the world.

OceanGate

The submersible is completely sealed.

Even if there was a submarine capable of traveling to the area, there would be no way to transfer the Titan’s passengers to the rescue submarine, since the submersible has no hatch. The submersible’s state-of-the-art composite carbon fiber and titanium structure was designed to withstand the extreme pressure of the depths to which it travels, but the design requires the passengers to be literally “sealed” into the ship from the outside.

The history of Morse code and its relationship with the Titanic

Any rescue of people would have to be done on the surface. Therefore, another possibility is that an unmanned submersible, such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), can secure the Titan on the seabed and bring it to the surface.

OceanGate

The Titan submarine has room for five people.

The problem is that getting to the surface isn’t enough: Since there’s no hatch, passengers would continue to rely on the 96 hours of air the ship had when it headed in, until a rescue team could unbolt the ship and get them out. .

In addition, aerial search and rescue is patrolling the waters around the site, but they are searching a vast expanse of ocean for a minuscule-sized object, and detection can be affected by weather conditions.

Therefore, given these circumstances and technical difficulties, an effective rescue is a company with minimal possibilities.

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