Uhmm, the sub was tested. A 1/3rd scale model in a pressure tank and the real sub by actual deep dives.

Ok, on second thought, there are some parallels.

Ever since Trinity, a total of 512 nuclear tests have been done in the open air, so atmospheric. 520 if you include the underwater tests. That totals some 545 megaton equivalent TNT, and its collective fall-out covered the world everywhere. That includes iron ore mining and open coal pit mining. Maybe add the 5% of…

Sorry, but those tragedies are not related at all. The Challenger disaster happened because of too low temperatures. It would have flown just fine had temperatures been higher. That fateful day it was launched below freezing, while the design of the Space Shuttle had temperature window above freezing.

Clearly whatever system they devised wasn’t enough.

How do you deal with a powerful convincing optimist, who regards the deep diving industry as too conservative and overly cautious?

That’s not true. In 2021 they did non-destructive testing (presumably ultrasound) after several deep dives and de-rated the hull to 3000m, due to suspected material fatigue. The hull on the Titan was replaced and they did more dives to the Titanic.

It was a pointless suicide mission from the get-go. Some lessons and regulations ARE paved in blood, but keep in mind, we have Engineering, Simulations, Prototypes, and other “new world” ways to help mitigate the risk. When you test a roller coaster....you don’t put people in it.

Don’t hold your hopes up too much. It was a commercial enterprise, operating in international waters. What OceanGate was offering was, and still is, fully legal. Its CEO was both committed and persuasive in getting people on board, despite all the doubts surrounding the safety of Titan.

It’s abhorrent. Some Dutch war ships sunk in the Java sea have suffered the same fate. War grave desecration. Nothing left on the sea bed.

Simple physics. Inside the sub you have 1 bar (14 psi) of pressure. Outside, at Titanic depth, you have about 380 bar of pressure, or some 5300 psi, give or take.

Here’s your star!

As a side note: Getting pre 1945 steel from the sea bed isn’t exactly cheap.

If only if it was that simple...

and the first time it tried to do its sole job — shuttling sightseers high on hubris down to the site of another aquatic disaster — it caved in like a Coke can. These are the facts of the matter.

No one, not even a celebrity standing on the grid before the race, owes Brundle — or Formula 1 — anything.

Having seen some of the PR footage of the subs construction, in particular how the titanium parts were glued to the composite mid-section, I can’t really pick a single most likely point of failure...

So? Get a Lotus Elise, or Exige, and drop in a 13B. It hasn’t been done before as much as the good ol’ K-swap, but “Rotus’es” have been made.

No no no, whatever you hold against me, it’s just “I”, not “AI”.

Yup, it never happened, it’s an anecdotal story taken out of context.