The best case scenario is that the sub has had a malfunction of its communication and tracking equipment and has made its way back to the surface, he says. Hope that the missing submersible will be found on the ocean’s surface decreases with each passing day, Prof Stefan Williams, University of Sydney director digital sciences initiative, tells the Guardian. John’s.Ī Royal Canadian Navy ship carrying a medical team specialising in dive medicine and a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber was also en route today. To aid the search, three C-17s from US Air Mobility Command have moved another commercial company’s submersible and support equipment from Buffalo to St. Two US Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft have been conducting overflights. An underwater robot is also searching in the vicinity of the Titanic. The Canadian military has dropped sonar buoys to listen for any possible sounds from the Titan. John’s, Newfoundland.Ĭanada’s Polar Prince ship has been conducting surface searches alongside a Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, Associated Press reports. The Titanic shipwreck lies 1,450 km east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 644 km south of St. US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick has told reporters that US and Canadian aircraft have searched more than 25,900 square kilometres of sea for the submersible vessel Titan – which was carrying five people when it went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck on Sunday. There may be more commercial pressure to be turning the vehicles around quickly in preparation for dives and new designs need extensive testing to ensure that they are meeting their design specifications and performance requirements.ħd ago 06.39 BST Summary of the day so far The move into deep sea tourism may introduce new risks. Uncrewed robotic vehicles are used routinely for supporting deep sea research as well as in the offshore industry, with a relatively limited number of crewed vessels used for scientific research, Williams says.Ĭrewed vessels allows experiencing environments firsthand, but the pressured involved limits viewpoints – crewed vessels have to rely on cameras and sensors to survey the environment.Įven though advances in communication systems, navigation instruments, engineering design tools and new materials have contributed to innovation in the design of these platforms, Williams says operating in depths of 4000m and beyond remains a challenge – especially if the expedition is for tourism: “They have made some important contributions to our understanding of the deep sea.” Williams points to the 1970s as the start of “these sorts of vehicles” being used to support scientific research. It is relatively recently that robotic vehicles have been considered and used for deep sea tourism. “There are significant risks associated with deploying vehicles at these depths,” Prof Stefan Williams, University of Sydney director digital sciences initiative, tells the Guardian of the missing submersible. So far, more than 25,900 square kilometres of sea has been searched by aircraft for the missing vessel – part of a unified command of aircraft and ships of the US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian Coast Guard and OceanGate Expedition. Ten hours ago, Coast Guard officials said the crew of the missing submersible had about 40 hours of breathable air left. The Titan crew is estimated to be down to about 30 hours of breathable air. So even if the sub has surfaced and is spotted by search operations, the danger is not over, as the crew inside would still need to rely on emergency oxygen to breathe until the hatch is opened by rescue teams. The submersible’s hatch appears to be bolted from the outside. The Explorers Club, of which two passengers in the missing sub are members, says there is “cause for hope” based on field data, asserting that “ likely signs of life have been detected at the site”. The memos did not clarify when on Tuesday the banging was heard, or for how long. CNN and Rolling Stone cited internal government memos saying banging had been detected, and reported that after additional devices were deployed four hours later, noises were still heard. Search crews have heard banging sounds at 30-minute intervals, according to US media. The data has been shared with the US Navy experts for further analysis, the Coast Guard said. Searches yielded negative results but will continue. Underwater noises have been detected by a Canadian aircraft in the search area for the missing submersible, according to the US Coast Guard.
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