The OceanGate Expeditions Titan submersible vehicle has been missing since Sunday, June 18, and is quickly running out of oxygen. The craft had a 96-hour supply of breathable air, but it has now been over 80 hours since the vessel went missing, and it is down to just 40 hours of oxygen. This means that the craft will run out of breathable air on Thursday.
The Titan was last known to be 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland when it disappeared. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the lost vessel by placing buoys over a stretch of ocean the size of Connecticut and observing the surface. The search is complicated by the fact that the craft could be inside the ruins of the Titanic, as low as 13,000 feet, which is too deep for most manned submarines to reach.
This would further complicate rescue efforts, as rescuers would need to differentiate between the Titanic structure itself and the Titan.
Y’all please watch this. It’s a CBS story that aired a while back about that submarine that is now missing. The creators of that missing submarine are DEEPLY unserious. pic.twitter.com/B6JriITyZj
— Marie, MSN, APRN, FNP-C (@FnpMarieOH) June 19, 2023
The Titan was carrying five individuals when it went missing: Shahzada Dawood, one of Pakistan’s richest men, his son Sulaiman Dawood, British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, and French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nergeolet. Seats aboard the vessel cost tourists $250,000 each.
The submersible does not have GPS but instead communicates with a vessel at sea level using text messages. Most reporting indicates these messages stopped being received some time on Sunday.
Recently, media reports have focused on an Xbox 360 video game controller that was apparently used to pilot the craft. Video game websites report that the controller is a “modified Logitech G Wireless Gamepad F710,” which retails for $50 and is one of the more popular third-party controllers for the Xbox 360. The controller was released in 2010, and the Xbox 360 was released in 2005.
the titan submarine is controlled by Bluetooth with an old video game controller pic.twitter.com/AN73reFA19
— Richard B. Long (@intell911) June 20, 2023
It is unclear whether the Logitech video game controller designed for the Xbox 360 was being used at the time, as video has since emerged that seems to show other controllers being used to pilot the craft. Additionally, Xbox controllers are apparently used for a variety of situations, including for the U.S. military to control lethal military equipment. From Kotaku:
Of course, modified controllers have long been used outside of gaming for everything from lethal military weapons to futuristic science experiments. A fertility clinic recently reported using a PlayStation 5 DualSense to perform the first-ever in vitro fertilization via robot. Back in 2018, the U.S. military switched from expensive custom joysticks to Xbox 360 controllers for its then-newest attack sub precisely because the Microsoft gamepads were cheap and easy to replace. Launched back in 2005, the old controllers are still reportedly part of the Department of Defense’s budget request for 2024.
It’s important to note then that while there’s no confirmation yet of whether the Titan was using a modified $50 controller, there’s also no indication that using one would’ve been a major safety risk, or evidence that OceanGate was somehow cheaping out the submarine’s construction. The controller itself has very good reviews on sites like Amazon. There’s likely a ton of other things that could have gone wrong instead, including any number of unexpected environmental conditions kilometers below the North Atlantic Ocean.
I found an old PDF promoting the Titanic-bound Titan submarine. It shows a "typical seating configuration" for 5 people.
only 1 person can extend their legs.
This looks like hell folks. pic.twitter.com/NPCUniq0fs
— Ben Goggin (@BenjaminGoggin) June 20, 2023
Rescue efforts are underway, with France, Canada, and OceanGate Expeditions all assisting the U.S. Coast Guard in their search for the missing vessel. However, time is running out, and the situation is becoming increasingly dire with each passing hour.
The Titan is an advanced submersible that is designed to take researchers, explorers, and paying customers on deep-sea expeditions to explore and study the ocean’s depths. With a depth rating of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet), it can reach depths that are beyond the capabilities of most manned submersibles. The vessel is also equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, including sonar, cameras, and sensors, that allow researchers to study and document the marine environment.
