Private enterprise sub, taking people down for “visits” to the wreck site. Costs around $250K each. One of the people on board is a billionaire who also paid to go into space…
The whole thing sounds dodgy as fuck, from the way it was built, to how it operates, to how passengers are literally sealed in from the outside, this meaning that if the stupid thing surfaces, unless the mothership picks them up in time, they still die…
It’s such a comedy of errors, it’s the kind of shit that only the very rich, and the very naïve, could have allowed to happen…
Anyway, fuck knows, I hope they turn up alive and well, but damn… Next time someone proposes an extreme deep sea sub held together with parts from Walmart (quite literally), steered by a video game controller, and which apparently cannot communicate with the outside world while deep-submerged, and wants to charge $250K to go gawk at Titanic, maybe society should think twice..?
I mean, come on… 🤦🏻♂️
Oh, you definitely should look up the apogee (CBS) article on it…
It’s a jerry-rig. Like, pretty much, shiny bells and whistles, and otherwise cheap parts to keep cost down…
So I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic, but no, this is… DIY rich-man tech, essentially…
Worse, they sell this as an "experimental" thing implying its something no one has done before. But manned subs that go to these depths do exist and have a ton of thoroughly tested safety features. (see: Alvin). how can someone pay 250k for a tour in this coffin without doing any due diligence is beyond me.
I'll look into it. No sarcasm intended. I just assumed that all these science vessels with submersibles bought them from one or two companies that specialized in their construction.
I definitely wouldn't board some asshole's homemade sub and descend to the depths the Titanic is at.
Little historical aside:
One of the first deep sea vessels was made by General Mills because they had their own machining and fabrication operation to build I don't know, threshers or corn flakes rollers or whatever the fuck General Mills uses to make products.
None of the usual heavy industry manufacturers would go near it because an admiral (rickover?) thought exploration was a waste of money and everyone wanted in on naval contracts
You may be thinking about Aluminaut, made by by Reynolds Metals Company.
No, I looked it up. It was Allvyn. Wiki says she's owned by the navy though. Can't think where I picked up the rest of the story though
LMFAO!!!
Goddamn that's a hilarious sentence and I'm not sure why--maybe "corn flakes rollers" HAW!
For that depth there really aren't COTS solutions. There are companies that make ROVs for that depth, but anything manned is going to be a custom built with WHOI and FNRS having the most experience at it.
As a side note, the Alvin is now 100% ship of theseus; nothing on it remains from the original 1964 build.