Titanic Revisited
In July and August of 2021, Washington-based company OceanGate Expeditions made multiple dives to the wreck of RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic with its prototype Titan 5-person submersible. The expedition was the culmination of six years of planning and technological development of the light-weight five-person sub. Titan has a revolutionary carbon fiber and titanium hull and portable deployment system that enables it to dive up to 4000m anywhere in the world without the need for a dedicated support vessel, dramatically cutting the cost and logistical challenges of manned deep sea exploration. By completing a season of successful scientific dives and archaeological exploration of the Titanic, the “Mount Everest” of deep sea shipwrecks, OceanGate has achieved proof-of-concept for a vehicle and business model that will further open up civilian access to the deep oceans. This lecture reports on the 2021 mission from a marine researcher’s perspective and offers thoughts on how ocean scientists and technologists can respond to the new opportunities created by this transformative model of manned deep ocean exploration.