Titanic tourist submersible missing: Difference between a submersible and a submarine

Titanic tourist submersible missing: Difference between a submersible and a submarine

Subject :Science and technology

Section: Msc

Context:

• A vessel known as the Titan went missing in the area of the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic on 19 June 2023.
• The Titan is classified as a submersible, not a submarine, because it does not function as an autonomous craft, instead relying on a support platform to deploy and return.

About the Titan:

• The Titan began deep-sea ventures related to the Titanic in 2021.
• Titan, the missing vessel is a submersible capable of taking five people — one pilot and four crew members — to depths of 4,000 meters, or more than 13,100 feet — for site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software.
• The titan was made of titanium and carbon fibre, it weighs about 21,000 pounds and is listed as measuring 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 8.3 feet, with 96 hours of “life support” for five people.
• The Titan, one of three types of crewed submersibles operated by OceanGate, is equipped with a platform similar to the dry dock of a ship that launches and recovers the vessel.
  • The platform is used to launch and recover manned submersibles by flooding its flotation tanks with water for a controlled descent to a depth of 9.1 meters (30 feet) to avoid any surface turbulence.
  • Once submerged, the platform uses a patented motion-dampening flotation system to remain coupled to the surface yet still provide a stable underwater platform from which our manned submersibles lift off of and return to after each dive.
  • At the conclusion of each dive, the sub lands on the submerged platform and the entire system is brought to the surface in approximately two minutes by filling the ballast tanks with air.
• As per the website of company, titan employs a system that can analyze how pressure changes affect the vessel as it dives deeper, providing early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to the surface.