New Titanic mission begins TODAY to scour wreck & take ‘most detailed images ever’ in first dive since Titan sub tragedy
A NEW mission begins on Friday to capture the most “detailed images ever” of the Titanic wreck – one year on from the OceanGate sub tragedy.
Experts are looking to gather state-of-the-art images of the ship that sank in April 1912 and gain new insights into the mysterious remains.
In June last year five people lost their lives on the OceanGate sub after the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion” from the immense deep-sea pressure.
But this mission will be different to last years – as no people will be sent down to the wreck.
The expedition, run by RMS Titanic Inc, will use remotely-operated vehicles to explore the site without any human making the scary descent.
They will be using the most modern tech to scan the mysterious vessel and hopefully gain new insights into its sinking.
Two robotic vehicles will dive to the pitch-black bottom of the ocean to capture millions of high-res pics to then make a 3D model of the debris.
One will be fitted with ultra-high-definition optical cameras and a lighting system, while the other will have a sensor package with a laser scanner, BBC reports.
MS Titanic Inc owns the salvage rights to the Titanic and has so far brought up over a whopping 5,500 objects from the wreck.
Despite the US government citing the iconic wreck as a gravesite, the research company previously obtained permission to explore the site.
A court found RMS Titanic Inc’s plan “seeks to minimise disturbance to the rest of the Titanic wreck, including to the hull of the ship and the remains of those 1,500 souls lost in the sinking of the ship.”
The team are set to look for any objects which they may be able to salvage on future expeditions, but have said they won’t be trying to enter the ship.
One item they’re particularly interested in is the Marconi wireless system used at the time of the Titanic’s sinking.
It sent a distress signal from the stricken ship.
For some the Titanic is a place that should go untouched due to 1,500 people losing their lives when it hit the iceberg and sank.
Company researcher James Penca acknowledged this. He said to the BBC: “We dive to Titanic to learn as much as we can from her;
“And like you should with any archaeological site, we do it with the utmost respect.
“But to leave her alone, to just let her passengers and crew be lost to history – that would be the biggest tragedy of all.
One of the five individuals who lost their lives in the OceanGate disaster was RMS Titanic Inc’s director of research, Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
A plaque is to be laid in his honour on the seabed.
RMS Titanic Inc says its mission is to preserve the legacy of Titanic and its passengers and crew.
They aim to do this “not just through artefact recovery, but also through continuous research, imaging, and educational initiatives”.
It comes after a disturbing transcript claimed to detail final communications between the Titan sub and its mother ship was revealed as fake last month.
An alarming transcript emerged at the time claiming to document the crew’s desperate attempts to go back to the surface.
It suggested the five men were frantically trying to deal with glitches and malfunctions onboard before they died.
The bogus transcript laid out supposed minute-by-minute correspondence between Titan and its mother ship, the Polar Prince.
Littered with technical jargon, the sham log claimed the hull alarms were going off inside the sub before communication abruptly ended.
A faux troubling final message claimed to be from the mother ship read: “Please respond if you’re able”.
But after a year-long probe, the log has been disregarded as fake.
A thorough investigation into the fateful voyage found no evidence indicating those on Titan had any warning a catastrophic implosion was impending.
The fatal OceanGate journey
LAST June, a horrific implosion in an OceanGate sub killed five people, including company CEO Stockton Rush.
Billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman all also died.
On June 18, 2023, the submersible was sent out by OceanGate Expeditions to explore the iconic Titanic wreckage.
By June 19, the submarine had not returned, prompting a search by the Coast Guard for the missing vessel.
Those inside the vessel are understood to have lost contact with its mothership above water, called the Polar Prince, just one hour and 45 minutes into the expedition.
After days of searching, the Coast Guard announced the deaths of all five passengers onboard on June 22, confirming a “catastrophic implosion” had taken place.
It was reported the submersible suffered an instant and intense pressure in the North Atlantic’s deep waters.
Experts had previously cautioned this may occur due to the intense pressure at extreme depths and further warned the Titan’s hull could implode.
The Titan was designed by a team of Nasa engineers but was reportedly steered by a reinforced PlayStation controller and had no GPS system.