The Titan disaster could suggest deep sea diving is risky -- history shows that's far from the truth

×

Error message

  • Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$ds_changed in eval() (line 16 of /var/www/7/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$ss_search_api_url in eval() (line 20 of /var/www/7/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$tm_title in eval() (line 20 of /var/www/7/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).

But their history shows that this is far from the case.

Metadata
Provider: 
The ConversationThe Conversation
URL: 
https://theconversation.com/the-titan-disaster-could-suggest-deep-sea-diving-is-risky-history-shows-thats-far-from-the-truth-208497https://theconversation.com/the-titan-disaster-could-suggest-deep-sea-diving-is-risky-history-shows-thats-far-from-the-truth-208497
Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Information
Tags: 
Hot, Pressure, Human, Hot Mobile, Exploration, Nautile, Triton Submarines, Carbon, History, Mir, Bakunawa, Mariana Trench, Diving, Time, Lifting, Aluminaut, Challenger Deep, Bathysphere, FNRS-3, Challenger, Titanic, Safety, Shipbuilding, Whaling, Film industry, Titan
Geotags: 
US, JAPAN, TRIESTE, FRANCE
Summary
Key Points: 
  • But their history shows that this is far from the case.
  • Bathyspheres were unpowered submersibles lowered into the sea on a cable and used for pioneering dives in the early 1930s.
  • Since then, submersibles have taken many more people into the deep ocean than the number of humans who have been into space.
  • Fumes from an electrical fire overcame the occupants of a Japanese tethered diving bell at around 10 metres deep in 1974.

Pushing the limits

    • The first to do so was a bathyscaphe – a submersible suspended below a float, rather than from a cable like the bathysphere.
    • It was called FNRS-3 and it set an overall depth record for the time, reaching 4,050 metres in 1954.
    • Over a 14-year period starting in 1991, the two Russian Mir submersibles visited the Titanic wreck than any other vehicle.

Today’s submersible fleet

    • But there are currently seven submersibles in service that can reach the depth of the Titanic and beyond.
    • There is one very deep-diving submersible in private ownership: the Limiting Factor was built by Triton Submarines for Texan billionaire Victor Vescovo to pilot to the deepest point in all five oceans in 2019.
    • The Aluminaut submersible of the 1960s, which was capable of diving to 4,500 metres, had an aluminium hull with a tubular shape that could carry seven people.
    • In 2013, I dived aboard Japan’s Shinkai 6500 submersible to study undersea hot springs at 5,000 metres deep on the ocean floor.
Copyright: 
2023 The Conversation. All Rights Reserved.