Scientists investigating the doomed Titan submersible have discovered shocking new details about what may have caused the catastrophic implosion.
Former chief scientist Dr. Steven Ross testified before a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Thursday, admitting that the OceanGate submarine experienced a “rig problem” days before the fatal mission to the Titanic in June 2023.
The malfunction caused passengers on board to fall out and one crew member to crash into the bulkhead, which one physicist says was where water began flowing into Titan.
The expert, who is not participating in the hearing, suggested a faulty connection at the front between the carbon fiber of the peel and the titanium ring, where the bulkhead is located, caused the explosion.
An astrophysicist has analyzed newly released images of OceanGate’s Titan wreck on the sea floor, speculating that the submersible did not implode from the center as many have suggested.
The Titan submersible disappeared on June 18, 2023, but the team involved in its development is now on trial for the deadly event.
Dr Ross told the panel that when the crash occurred, “one passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap.”
The former chief scientist said he did not know whether an official assessment of the Titan’s hull had been carried out before it plunged into the Atlantic, but he said the staff was made up of competent people.
But days later, the Titan was lowered into the Atlantic and the failure remained secret until today.
Earlier this week, the US Coast Guard released chilling deep-sea images of the shipwreck littering the seafloor.
And physicist Scott Manley investigated to see if there were clues about what happened 12,500 feet below the surface.
The long-held hypothesis has been that the carbon fiber and titanium hull collapsed under extreme pressure.
If the failure had occurred mid-air, Manley explained, water would have spread in both directions and left carbon fiber debris on the front and back of the submersible.
Images of the wreck showed only carbon debris in the center of the hull, with the front cone clear of debris around it and the tail blown to one side.
“Based on what I know and what I’m seeing here, the pressure hull failed at the glue bond between the carbon fiber and the titanium ring at the front of the submarine, that failure propagated aft with the water pushing everything toward the back of the cabin within milliseconds,” Manley said. shared on X.
‘The front just came off, the screws holding it on probably broke due to the water getting in and the window went flying out, I have no idea where that is.’
Manley explained his theory in more detail in a YouTube videosuggesting that the failure began in the forward bulkhead that divided the submarine’s interior into watertight compartments.
And with Titan, this region is a large silver ring made of titanium.
The Titan submersible disappeared on June 18, 2023. There were five people inside the vehicle when it imploded.
The astrophysicist, who also works as a programmer for Apple, said water began to push in that region and created a crack that began to extend toward the back of the submersible.
This caused the helmet to also be pushed back and the sides to be crushed inward.
“What’s happening now is water is coming in through (the front gap) and the front nose, causing the window to pop out,” Manley said, noting that’s why the window in the nose cone is missing on the seafloor.
He went on to explain that the rapidly incoming water basically tore the submersible apart from the inside out.
Water then crashed against the rear bulkhead, forcing the cone-shaped tail to separate from the rest of the Titan.
“So what you’re left with is (the rear ring) and a bunch of carbon fiber scraps,” Manley continued.
Scott Manley, who has a Master of Science in computational physics, noted that the front nose was found with no surrounding debris suggesting the problem occurred at the front of Titan.
He said there was a faulty connection between the hull and the large titanium ring that was allowing water to seep in through the front and push the submarine around. The Titan’s tail can be seen on the seabed.
And that’s what was seen in the newly released images.
The titanium rings were attached using an adhesive that works like an epoxy glue applied in layers by hand.
However, this is the same process the US Navy uses when building its submarines.
“You need the titanium section and the carbon fiber section to match how they flex when pressure is applied,” Manley said.
‘Otherwise, what will happen is that if you get transferred, you will have additional stress.
‘If that were to deviate by a small percentage, that could put additional stress on these interfaces.
‘But it could also be that the glue was crap and it fell apart.’