BLACKSBURG, Va. – The search for a missing submersible that takes tourists to the wreckage of the Titanic is intensifying by the minute.
Teams from different countries — including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany are joining the operations under a very tight timeline as the oxygen runs out on the submersible.
Coast Guard officials estimated Tuesday afternoon that there were “about 40 hours of breathable air left” on the missing vessel.
The search is focused on an area where Canadian aircraft detected “underwater noises” Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dr. Stefano Brizzolara is a professor of Aerospace and Ocean engineering at Virginia Tech. Prior to this event unfolding, he had never heard of manned missions going to the Titanic.
“I was really surprised. Some of the design features of this vehicle were closer to an experimental unmanned vessel than a real man submersible vessel,” Brizzolara said.
There is a growing amount of scrutiny for OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the mission after court documents revealed a former employee was concerned about the safety of the vessel.
Dr. Brizzolara says he’s confused why the vessel didn’t have certain safety precautions.
“Typically you have something, some safety measure that can bring you back to the surface even if you lost power. Something bad must have happened. They may have lost power … or they may be entangled in something,” Brizzolara said.
The Titanic is over two miles (4000 meters) deep at the bottom of the ocean. An area of concern is the pressure that is far below the surface.
“You have a pressure from the outside of 400 times the atmospheric pressure on Earth. Any imperfection, any little crack will cause a progressive failure,” Brizzolara said. “Going down to 4000 meters under the sea surface is much more risky and dangerous than going to space.”
Brizzolara says he doesn’t even think US Navy Submarines go as deep as 4000 meters.
Some of the passengers aboard ‘The Titan’ spent upwards of $250,000 to go on the mission.
Brizzolara says he would only go to see the Titanic if it were in a US Navy Submarine but even then you can see it more clearly on a monitor above the surface.
“You don’t need the experience of being there in person … which in any case is still an indirect experience. Yes you are there but you are inside a pressure vessel which is mostly blind except for a small window,” Brizzolara said.