Inside Titan: Like 'a car that you drunkenly drove into the ocean'
The Titanic tourist submersible missing with five people aboard is a simple and small vessel with a carpeted floor instead of seats and barely enough room inside for more than one person at a time to stretch out, according to previous passengers and promotional documents.
The Titan’s dimensions are 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 8.3 feet, according to a diagram of the vessel used in promotional documents. Only one of the passengers is able to fully extend their legs in the diagram, which describes the arrangement as the “typical seating configuration.”
There’s no traditional toilet aboard the vessel, which is steered with a video game controller, previous passengers have detailed.
“It’s basically a car that you drunkenly drove into the ocean,” Mike Reiss, a writer and producer who has worked on “The Simpsons” and who took the trip last year, said on his podcast.
'It's really a bit like being an astronaut going into space'
The harsh and unforgiving environment that rescuers must navigate in the search for Titan can be more easily compared to outer space than many places on Earth.
“It’s pitch black down there. It’s freezing cold. The seabed is mud, and it’s undulating. You can’t see your hand in front of your face,” historian and Titanic expert Tim Maltin said in an interview with NBC News Now. “It’s really a bit like being an astronaut going into space.”
But unlike space, humanity’s presence deep in the world’s oceans is minimal, and the technology for search-and-recovery missions is limited.
The sub’s oxygen supply is the most pressing factor in the search, but it’s hardly the only challenge, said Jamie Pringle, a professor of forensic geosciences at Keele University in the United Kingdom. Scouring such extreme depths is challenging because the seafloor is more rugged than land, he said.
Only a finite amount of oxygen left on missing vessel
The U.S. Coast Guard and those aiding in the search for Titan are in a race against time, with the vessel having a finite oxygen supply.
The sub had up to 96 hours of oxygen supply and by 1 p.m. ET Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Coast Guard officials said it had roughly 41 hours left.
Rescuers trying to find the submersible are not only racing against the clock, but they also must contend with difficult search conditions in an unforgiving environment.
Aircraft detect ‘underwater noises’ during search
Canadian aircraft searching for signs of the missing submersible detected “underwater noises” in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said early Wednesday.
The underwater noises, detected by Canadian P-3 aircraft, prompted redirected searches by remotely operated vehicles, the Coast Guard tweeted shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET.
“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue,” the Coast Guard said. “Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.” A representative said OceanGate was unable to provide any additional information.