The craft survived several launches - that proved it can do it.
Whether it can do it reliably / survive fatigue accross repeated cycles is a different question. Imagine we'll find out as the investigation progresses.
Whether it can do it reliably / survive fatigue accross repeated cycles is a different question. Imagine we'll find out as the investigation progresses.
Specifically, the failure mode was delamination.
I can't vouch for how credible this all is - but, given how much disregard the OceanGate team had for safety, it doesn't seem too far fetched.
While it may still be an entirely unsuitable material for 4km, not being suitable for 10km doesn't prove that.
Exactly, that's my point. I didn't realize that (this present catastrophe notwithstanding) that carbon fiber could even begin to have such compressive strength. How is the fiber formed in such a way to maintain that strength?
or if sea water degrades the glue, or if the carbon fiber degrades after each trip and eventually isn't strong enough any more, etc.
Tensile strength would make sense in that scenario, but I don't see how it would apply when the cylinder is empty and being crushed by outside forces.
Seems like we already found out the answer is “no”. The overall ship design failed.
So, sure, it was launched before and recovered, but it never experienced the same conditions which caused the failure.
(At least twice, and probably more times).