OceanGate CEO Told Videographer to Sleep on the Titan Sub After the Battery Died
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Our team could use swerve drive and that’ll cover the parts.
The article does mention "one" of them went out, implying they had more than one.
As to why that was not sufficient to release the balast, that's another question.
Edit. Thank you for the responses people, I learned something new today!
For scuba, you are breathing pressurized gasses much higher than 1atm at depth, which causes decompression issues.
If it's PR spin and fake outrage, then it'll be obvious.
Which is today, it's very obvious to me that idiot rich dudes are very capable of doing idiot rich dude things without the "help" of theoretically incompetent minorities.
I'm very comfortable assuming the idiocy is coming from there. I demand proof in the other direction. It was probably rich white guy idiots. Prove to me otherwise.
Everything is a tradeoff. Why not 20 spare batteries? Because it's too heavy.
Related to this, the Hydraulic Press channel did a somewhat similar implosion test of a composite tube with metallic ends. Thought it was relevant due to other discussion on this topic:
As a lot of the comments talk about, it visually looks [1] like the glue failed and there's no provided evidence that a submersible would use the same 2 part epoxy glue.
My understanding was for that "submersible" the glue never had a seal in the first place. But I can see the argument that instead the glue failed early on.
> The high velocity/high deformation collapse inward would probably cause any bond line or the fibers in that proximity to fail anyway?
Well, my overall point is that there is no evidence that the test is an accurate reproduction/simulation of Titan. Honestly a better test is probably just having carbon fiber on "dry-land" and pushing on sheet of it using the press at a known pressure so see if at 400 atms it just deforms or breaks. The whole point of it being a submersible test is to ride the curtails of the deaths (i.e. entertainment not education).
Anyways, the carbon fiber definitely deforms but the glue failing is a very fast shock that precedes the implosion. Surely the carbon fiber would've broke when more force was applied (assuming the glue didn't). But I think the test only showed the breaking point of the epoxy.
If you're testing submerssibles and one of them has (>5% maybe less) deformation that should count as a test failure. But that deformation doesn't count as an implosion.
> A clip shows Rush inside Titan elaborating on the plan saying that eventually the sub will “drift down” and “hit the bottom.”
Dear Lord.. Even running an ice cream shop is subjected to more scrutiny than selling rides in a submarine.
It is more a cultural staple than a trend at this point, since the Watergate scandal happened fifty years ago.
Starting a submarine business means you have a lot of money, and the people with a lot of money see that as too much of a hassle to go after for a quick pay out. Probably could afford lawyers, and for positive press releases, ew.
Some of the other legal issues is that the passengers signed waivers, which are generally considered common, and that the submersible ran in international waters: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titan-sub-oceangate-famlies-law....
> “We had special weights on the submersible that will dissolve after 24 hours so they will just drop off and then we would be able to get back to the surface.”
Related: Is there a way to design an electromagnetic coupling that only uses significant power when it needs to work hard to maintain the connection? Because otherwise I could see battery drain being an issue.
The Deepsea Challenger used such a system.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush hired interns to design the Titan submersible's electrical system: Report
A better way would haven been to have mechanical latches, that are connected to the weights and which use the battery to unlatch the locks.
I am curious how the weights are wired, because you cant just run wires from inside the sub to outside. The pressure gradient is too high. So with mechanical cables holding the weights.
Sure have a battery system as back-up for loss of shore-power (so that you can surface). But if the ROVs [1] they used to find the wreckage can be tethered to a ship why can't the dive sub? It would just be a glorified elevator at this point which sounds much simpler.
An early pilot said, “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” Space and submarine operations are even less forgiving than sea surface or aviation. Almost all of my transition training into more advanced aircraft has been systems-related (like 90+% systems and 10-% operation).
I feel like the purchasers of these experiences were basically passengers. I don't expect the occupant of 2A on an airliner to understand anything more about the safety systems than where the exits are and how to put on a mask if it appears in front of them.
They are in a sealed tube underwater where most of the systems are automated. Practically, the only thing they can do is sit down and hang onto their butts. Even the press interviews reveal a simple button to submerge or ascend. Beyond the simple controller for limited maneuverability there isn't much anyone can do from inside the capsule.
For untrained crew or passengers this is probably the best setup. But there should have been a lot more critical engineering involved before even a single crew dived.