Would you book a trip to outer space or under sea?

ruffdog · Jun 26, 2023

One guy (Karl Stanley) that had dived in the Titan had said it "creaked" when under pressure and warned the CEO. Maybe he seemed to think it was okay and normal. Maybe the carbon fiber just creaked once too many times and fatigued too much.

Sub expert on 2019 Titan trip heard noise of 'hull breaking down'

2manyrocks · Jun 26, 2023

Here's a news report of one retired submarine captain offering the theory that the carbon fiber, titanium, and plexiglas had different rates of expansion and contraction that could have worked the seal loose over repeated dives. A second Titanic tragedy: The failure of OceanGate's Titan

And a 2022 CBS interview with Stockton Rush about the construction of the Titan in which he discusses the safety issues including the crackling noise. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush talks Titan sub's design, carbon fiber hull, safety and more in 2022 interviews

ning · Jun 28, 2023

The porthole is missing from the end cap
Rush had said that you'd get a ton of advance notice if it was failing due to crazing long before collapse
I'm trying to decide, if the cylinder (carbon fiber) collapsed, would that induce the destruction of the window? Would the sudden increase of pressure inside the sub pop the window "off" (though it was bolted on)?
Perhaps if the window collapsed first, the blast of water coming in from it may have damaged the inside of the cylinder, leading to its collapse as well?

2manyrocks · Jun 28, 2023

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that pressure collapsed the cylinder and caused the porthole assembly to blow off like a cap popping off a soda bottle that got squished. The Titan personnel chamber appears to have been unique in having a cylinder for 5 people compared to other submersibles like the Deepsea Challenger that only has a small sphere for one person. Comparatively speaking, there was a lot more surface area for pressure to build against the Titan pressure chamber. My logic would therefore be that if you have a larger pressure area, you'd want to build the thing even stronger.

Stockton Rush is quoted as having said a number of things in the CBS interview, including things about being able to react to warnings and make it back to the surface that today strike me as eerie. He answered several questions in the interview similar to those that various TBN members have been asking in this thread.