Elon Musk has tweeted mini-sub rescue tests in LA pool

Elon Musk has tweeted out short video of underwater tests of the rescue mini-subs. These mini-subs could be used to save 8 boys and their coach who are still trapped in caves in Thailand. Four of the boys were already saved with two buddy divers assigned to each boy.

The tests were performed in a swimming pool in Los Angeles. They have simulated having divers pull it through narrow passages.

Wing Inflatable rescue pods transported by SpaceX jet to Thailand

There is were other rescue pods that Elon Musk talked to Arcata-based Wing Inflatable about producing.

Wing Inflatables has decades of experience making inflatable craft and is no strangerA to rescue situations. Last year, Wing Inflatables boats were used in Hurricane Harvey search-and-rescue operations.

five units were to be sent out of the local airport on a SpaceX jet and that the Wing Inflatables crew will be willing to manufacture more pods to be sent if requested.

The pod is made of the same polyurethane the company uses on its boats and pontoons. It’s orange and black and about 7 feet long and 4 feet wide. On one end is a metal ring ropes can be tied to and the other end opens up with Velcro to allow for someone to scoot in with a SCUBA tank. It’s covered in handles to give rescue divers lots of places to grab onto it. On the top, it has four holes that allow for air from the breathing apparatus to escape the pod if less buoyancy is required. The pod has two black pontoons on either side that can be inflated using air from a SCUBA tank for additional buoyancy if needed.

“They’d climb in and they’d have a breathing apparatus and you could pull them through the submerged part. That’s the big issue with the rescue right now,” Wing general manager Patrick Sproul said.

Wing Inflatables is based in Arcata California.