One year ago, Sunday 18 June 2023, the bathyscaphe Titanoperated by the private US company OceanGate, with on board 5 people was transported offshore by the Polar Prince ship for a tourist visit to the wreck of the Titanic but, during the descent into the Atlantic Ocean, something went wrong and the submarine was reported missing: according to the first reconstructions, still in progress, there occurred a violent implosion which, in very few fractions of a second, completely destroyed the vehicle, instantly taking the lives of all its occupants. Last year the news kept a large part of the world population in suspense during the four days of searches, and the confirmation of the accident only occurred on 22 June 2023, the day on which the remains were found on the ocean floor of the Atlantic at about 3800 meters depth.
On the occasion of the first anniversary of this tragic maritime accident, we look back at what happened with new 3D images.
Before addressing the possible causes, in our opinion it is important to understand the structure of the bathyscaphe itself so as to better understand the dynamics of the accident.
The structure of the Titan
The bathyscaphe Titan was long 6.7 mwide 2.8m, high 2.5 m and was designed to submerge to approx 3,800-4000 m below sea levelhosting 5 people on board: four people including crew and guests, and a pilot. The vehicle had a maximum oxygen autonomy of approximately 96 hoursthat is, about 4 days, and could move at the speed of about 5.5 km/h, thanks to four electric thrusters called thrusters. These were mounted at couples, two vertically and two horizontally, so as to allow movement in every direction.
The structure of the submarine, considered innovative and experimental by the manufacturing company (OceanGate), was essentially composed of three parts:
- at the ends were present two titanium domes, that is, the tail and the head. The latter, as many will remember, was characterized by a porthole from the diameter of 53 centimeters approximately.
- the third part was instead made up of a central body, the hull, which was cylindrical and was composed not of a metal alloy (titanium/steel/aluminium) as in many other cases of bathyscaphes, but of a composite material made up of carbon fibers immersed inside one epoxy resin melted and subsequently solidified. In jargon this material is called Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP).
According to Stockton Rush, the co-founder and CEO of the OceanGate company, owner of the Titan, this central part represented true innovation. In fact, the other bathyscaphes were basically spherical, to distribute the pressure more evenly and were made with a metal structure, mainly in a titanium alloy, whose resistance was well established.
At this point the natural question arises: “why did OceanGate choose carbon fibre?”
The Titan submarine, with carbon fiber, in addition to being cheaper, was lighter and could accommodate 5 people, compared to other bathyscaphes which could usually contain 2 or 3.
With that said, let's dive in to understand what may have happened in depth.
The arrival of the Titan at the dive site
The June 18, 2023 The Bathyscaphe Titan with on board 5 people is carried offshore by the ship Polar Prince. In fact, bathyscaphes, unlike submarines and submersibles, do not have enough autonomy to travel long distances and for this reason they must literally be transported by another ship to the place where they will then dive.
Then after leaving the port of Saint John, the Titan was transported to 640 km from the coast, near the wreck of the Titanic. After a day of sailing, the five arrive on site and prepare for the dive 3800 m, ready to admire the wreck of probably the most famous ship in history. They were the 7:00 am of the June 18, 2023 and no one would have imagined that that dive would become a media event of global proportions for about a week.
The chronicle of the Titan accident
The descent began at 8:00 in the morning of the June 18th and to reach the Titanic, located at 3800 meters deepwould have been needed approximately 2 hours. The Titan could communicate with the ship on the surface via text messages, as GPS signals and radio communications do not work underwater at great depths so there was no continuous, real-time monitoring of conditions within the vessel. submarine. The bathyscaphe was descending at a speed of approximately 30 meters per minute and the more it descended, the more the pressure on the bathyscaphe increased.
The question of pressure is fundamental to have the right perception of what most likely happened: as many of you know, in water the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere every 10 meters, therefore at 3000 meters we will have 301 atmospheres (since we must also take into account the atmospheric pressure which is equal to 1).
To understand how frightening a pressure equal to 300 atm is, consider that over an area of 1 square meter it generates a weight equivalent to approximately 3000 tonnes, equal to almost a third of the weight of the Eiffel Tower.
After an hour and 45 minutes of descent the Polar Prince received a final update message indicating that everything was proceeding normally, but after this moment, all communications stopped. No one yet knows exactly what happened in depth because the official investigations are still underway, but the most accredited hypothesis suggests an implosion which is believed to have occurred in less than 1 thousandth of a second.
The search for the Titan and the implosion hypothesis
The search for the Titan submarine was conducted by a broad international coalition, comprising the US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian, French and British authorities. On June 22, 2023, 4 days after last contactthe remains of the Titan were found at approximately 500 meters from the Titanic wreck, at a depth of approximately 3,800 meters. Part of this debris has been recovered to analyze it and try to define the causes. As anticipated, the investigations are currently still ongoing and therefore for the moment we have stopped at a hypothesis, based on theory and the visual analysis of some images of the remains brought to the surface. The implosion hypothesis could be traced back to 3 main factors:
- The first would be linked to hull shape. The cylindrical shape is structurally more prone to deform if there are high pressures. A perfect sphere, however, manages to distribute the pressures that compress it more uniformly;
- The second and the material of which the hull was made, that is carbon fiber. In itself, carbon fiber is an excellent material, which has a low density, therefore very light, and also has excellent technical properties, such as high tensile strength; but its compressive strength can be unpredictable, especially at pressures 300 times greater than atmospheric pressure;
- The third factor is related to the second: the Titan had already performed several dives before this and the continuous cycles of very high pressure and then ambient pressure, gave rise to a phenomenon called “fatigue”. Fatigue of a material causes it to have less resistance. According to the experts, therefore, the composite carbon fibre, with this umpteenth inversion, would have undergone micro-deformations which, in the end, would have caused its collapse.
This seems to be confirmed as no large portions of the hull (made of carbon fiber) were found. Indeed, of the hull parts they found, the majority is actually covering material (the “white” one we see on the outside) but carbon fiber there doesn't seem to be the slightest trace of it – at least no macroscopic traces.
Final reflections on the tragedy
In conclusion, I would like to share a reflection with you: the Titan accident, which resulted in the death of 5 people, reminds us how small man is compared to the power of nature. The depths of the oceans represent a limit to our knowledge and technology, a boundary that challenges and humiliates us. In fact, most of the seabed and ocean floor is still unexplored.
It may seem paradoxical, but know that often exploring space for hundreds of thousands or millions of kilometers is simpler than descending a few kilometers below the surface of the sea.
When I think back to this event I feel like placing the emphasis on the humility and respect necessary towards the immense natural forces of our planet, reminding us that our objective is not to tame them, to control them to make our EGOMANIA greater, but to understand them to live with it as best we can.
The Earth is after all stronger than us, infinitely stronger.
Having said that, hoping that this work will help you more, I thank you for following us until the end, I thank you for your respect and affection and I'll see you next time, always here on Geopop, Science in everyday life .
