Safeguards should be in place to help missing Titanic tourist sub resurface, local expert says
RANCHO CORDOVA — In Rancho Cordova, John Powell's JP Aerospace looks like a movie set with 3D printers, laminates and a submarine that's currently being worked on.
Powell's creation, which utilizes AI and will be used in shallow waters, is far different than the submersibles that are dominating the news headlines. But it underscores one important point: working in the ocean is a completely different game.
"The ocean environment is changing all the time," said Powell. "You move up a little bit, you move down a little bit, it radically changes and it's going to find a way to bite you."
JP Aerospace typically has built airships that have entered space and returned to the atmosphere. But Powell is firm on which of the two is trickier to work in.
"Absolutely, 100 percent, it's working in the ocean," he said.
Currently, the submersible Titan is missing in the North Atlantic. Its purpose was to ferry five people down to the ocean floor to see the remains of the ocean liner Titanic. But the support ship lost touch with the submersible and now a race is on to find the five people that are currently in the pod. Powell said safeguards should be in place to keep the craft from staying at the bottom of the ocean.
"If everything goes dead, the first thing you know is that you're bouncing up to the surface," he explained.
Powell believes that the craft may not be that far underwater, but the precise location of how deep it is in the ocean may actually create more problems than it solves.
"No one on the surface will be able to see it. It's in the first 10 feet of the surface where radar and sonar doesn't see. If they have that ROV underwater right now at the Titanic site and they see the vessel, they can hook it up and bring it back up. If it's somewhere the size of Connecticut where it can't be seen or detected and life support is running out because they can't open the hatch until they're on the surface."
The problem is, to everyone's understanding, there is no ROV (remote operating vehicle) with the submersible, as broader questions are now being raised about the trip operator, OceanGate, and its' lack of safety precautions in an ever-static environment.
"Having an onboard ROV is a relatively inexpensive way to vastly increase the safety, and they have the ROV dive with the submarine which is becoming a common practice," Powell said. "Where was theirs? So when you have a problem, the ROV sees it so the surface knows what's happening the moment it's happening. The submarine company doesn't have that. We don't know why."
Broader questions are being raised about this risky type of adventure tourism. But also the risky relationship between wealthy thrill seekers and the scientific community as public funding for research continues to evaporate, forcing scientists to explore more unorthodox means.
"You can go to Hawaii and get a tourist submarine and it's going down to 300 feet and those are very safe, and [the Titan] seems like the same going down 300 feet and going a little deeper to the Titanic," Powell mentioned. "But it's like going to the grocery store versus going to space.
"You have to find another way because funding is going out of science. We decided we're not going into the tourist direction, although we've been asked. But for us, we're not going there. We do an element of that. Where's the trade? And all I can say is I don't know."