You're talking about the difference between carbon fiber in compression on the sub, where it's rather weak, to carbon fiber in tension on the SRB, where it's strong.
An implosion is measured in single digit milliseconds.
The SRBs are not in compression during their flight: the pressure inside is much higher than outside. They would face a compression load hitting the water, then a few hours of sitting in sea water (with the pressure inside equal to outside) before being recovered.
Nobody died who didn't willingly put their lives at risk. One might argue that Titanic should be off limits to tourism because it's a fragile historic site, or it's a tomb that shouldn't be poked at, things like that... but "because people might die" is a bad precedent.
Other 'tourist' submarine operations have shown it's possible to build and operate these things safely. Triton built the DSV Limiting Factor, which is designed for the Challenger Deep and is certified by DNV for those depths.
Titanic was dissolving away when first discovered; it's time as a recognizable "wreck" is limited no matter what anyone does. And if the wreckage of the sub is 1600 feet away, it seems like it wasn't that close when it imploded.
It's funny to read that the existence of SOSUS was classified until 1991 when I distinctly remember reading of it long before then, in analysis of the loss of the USS Scorpion. Obviously, details of its capabilities was classified (and likely still is; what sounds it can detect are less important than its analysis capabilities).
Ummm...
It *should* be, but with this CF of a sub, I guess it probably shouldn't be. Getting to where I won't be surprised if there were plans to drill holes in the bottom of it to let water drain out.
Looks like the start of the implosion...
I don't believe that there is any submersible with a docking collar on the upper hull for rescue.
I would really hope so.
Pretty sure the thrusters were mounted on the outer casing. And yes, probably screwed to the fiberglass.
This looks damning.
Since I'm not a lawyer, and don't know which country's laws will apply, the only sure thing is that there will be quite a few lawyers being able to finance their new yachts. And, yes, there are many instances in case law where waivers are waved aside.
Hard lesson's learnt. Ignore them at your peril.
The sub imploded an hour and 45 minutes into a two and a half hour descent, so it was still far from the Titanic. If it descended at a constant speed, it should have been about 8750 feet down... 3750 feet above the Titanic.
That actually sounds about right. Cured resin is very slick, paint doesn't like to stick to it. You need to rough up the surface to have paint stick.
Yeah, they seem to have taken every possible shortcut.
Quellish, thank you for posting that, very interesting. Listening to Mr. Hawkes, the selection of CF for DeepFlight Challenger's hull material sounds like a tradeoff - new, unproven technology, but will do the job for that particular mission within a given budget. CompositesWorld has an article providing a bit more detail on Cyclops 2 / Titan hull construction. According to the article, it's hull was manufactured by the same company (Spencer Composites) as DeepFlight Challenger's hull.
It's either that or sand it, which has an ever greater chance of damaging the fibers.
Perhaps there should be on 'experimental' types? At least a regular entry/exit which could have a docking collar built in.
If we get down to it, basically all those deep diving submersibles are experimental, in the sense that they are only made in 1s and 2s.
Not to mention that they're using carbon fiber in a reverse pressure vessel. One where the pressure is outside and the inside is at 1atm.
