Stockton Rush described issues with the submersible's control system
BySteve DaSilvaPublished7 hours agoComments (8)We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Last week, a tourist submersible imploded while on an expedition to see the wreckage of the Titanic. Shortly after the sub first went missing, details about its construction and controls began popping up — details that pointed to shoddy, slapdash construction. Now, a video from a YouTube diver shows new footage of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush explaining problems the sub was having before its fateful dive.
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YouTuber Jake Koehler took a trip on the Titan submersible earlier this year, but the dive was plagued with multiple issues. The entire voyage was postponed on its first day, due to a combination of weather and computer factors, and its eventual delayed launch never made it much deeper than your average swimming pool. During Koehler’s time onboard the launch ship, however, Rush’s explanations for the delay gave some clued to the sub’s condition.
Rush spent a fair amount of time discussing control issues with the sub, apparently all stemming from a single computer responsible for controlling one of the sub’s thrusters. It seems that the Titan had multiple “control spheres” responsible for managing individual thrusters, but that the spheres weren’t interfacing with each other properly. The core problem, it seems, was yet to be determined — Rush laid out a few possible causes, ranging from wiring to component failures.
That problem, which prevented the sub’s dive on its original intended day, appears to have been fixed (or circumvented, or ignored) sometime during Koehler’s trip. He did get his chance to sink beneath the surface in the Titan, but the dive was quickly cancelled due to inclement weather rolling in. Had the weather stayed clear, who knows what would have happened to Koehler and his dive compatriots?
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