A Canadian aircraft searching for the missing Titan submersible detected “underwater noise” on Tuesday from the vicinity of the location where the crew was touring the wreck site. Former submarine commander Capt. Don Walsh explains how deep submarine dives report every 15-30 minutes to their surface ship.
He explains how the sonar buoys can triangulate on the location of the banging noise. It is very difficult like locating a drum player in a large stadium full of people.
Capt. Don Walsh is not hopeful of a recovery of the OceanGate Titan submarine.
BREAKING UPDATE: The US coast guard reports that one of the remotely operated submarine drones has detected a debris field in the search are of Titan submarine.
Titan Sub is Designed to Come Up After 24 Hours
Aaron Newman is an investor in OceanGate who visited the site on the vessel in 2021. He explains a key safety feature
Titan is held underwater by ballast — heavy weights that helps with a vessel’s stability — built to be automatically released after 24 hours to send the sub to the surface.
Crew members are told they can release the ballast by rocking the ship or use a pneumatic pump to knock the weights free, Newman said. If all else fails, he said, the lines securing the ballast are designed to fall apart after 24 hours to automatically send it back to the ocean’s surface.
Titan’s thrusters are powered by an external electrical system, while an internal system powers communications and a heater, Newman said.
There were four ways for the vessel to shed weight and bring it back up to the surface in the case of an emergency. There is a computer-controlled weight release, a manual-valve system that injects air into exterior ballast containers, a hydraulic system to drop weights and an ability to detach from the sled attached to the submersible and help move the vessel back to the surface.
The Titan submarine has not returned to the surface and the banging suggests the people are alive. This seems to indicate that somehow the submarine is trapped.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.