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.
Saw reported earlier that Stockton Rush is part of the crew.
They are probably dead now. Window of opportunity has passed. RIP.
My first reaction was to make a joke, but decorum dictates otherwise.
Prayers up, it sure doesn’t look good unfortunately.
People doing what modern robots could do better and safer.
I get it that they’re looking for adventure, but now their families will have nothing but grief.
Sometimes you gotta think about more than what thrills you.
Stockton Rush is CEO of Oceangate.
I really don’t understand it.
Scientists and mappers, I get. But tourists? No.
What were they thinking, “off the shelf” parts? PlayStation control panel? What could go wrong.
Balanced on the biggest wave,
Race to-wards an early grave.
The titanic is the new Mt. Everest forcthrill seekers....at least that’s the intention IMO.
Yep, sad that they may well have died in this effort.
But sure, what about robots exploring the Titanic, or other difficult to reach places? I wonder if anyone has thought about that.
Do you feel the same way about Space tourism? Virgin Galactic shouldn't be selling rides to near space?
If the outfit running these tours were as shoddy as the article suggests, with Logitech videogame controllers as submersible pilot controls, and water bottles as makeshift "bathrooms," then I wouldn't trust the vehicle itself to withstand the 14,000 ft depths.
Chances are the submersible imploded.
Oh, no kidding! I wouldn’t use a game controller for anything related to real life. Nuts and bolts can’t be “common” either.
Exactly. “off the shelf” components for such an extreme environment is utter foolishness.
Granted the devices mentioned are likely not responsible for the issue at hand but it shows a hubristic lack of respect for the extremes they are playing with at the bottom of the ocean
Communication between sub and the support ship was lost. They should have had a redundant means of location if not communication. How hard would it be to mount a location beacon on the craft to hasten the rescue?
The whales are pissed. Humans have been messing with their environment and the whales took action. Now, if they could only figure out a way to destroy those turbines that have been messing with their sonar communications abilities.
The stuff of a good movie and not a science fiction one.
Apparently, they have a means to communicate from the submarine but haven’t.
This doesn’t sound promising.
Whales are sinking boats off Portugal and Spain...................
Last recorded depth had not reached the 4,000 meter depth, but agree with you this vessel would not have passed a vehicle inspection at the DMV.
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