New Delhi: Relying on 700,000 photographs of the wreck – taken by two submarines named ‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet’ – and state-of-the-art technology, researchers have created the first full-size 3D scan of the Titanic, allowing the world to visualize the sea . liner completely if all the water around it has been removed.
It is being seen as a first step towards evidence-based research, rather than speculation, into the tragedy that killed an estimated 1,500 people on April 14, 1912, when the British luxury ocean liner struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton I went. England to New York City, USA. The Titanic has been resting at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean ever since.
The corroded wreck lies 3,800 meters (12,500 ft) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. Its 3D scan has been prepared using deep sea mapping technology.
The scans were carried out by Magellan Ltd – a deep-sea mapping company – as well as Atlantic Productions, who are also making a documentary on the project.
The “digital twin” has been created from every angle and using 16 TB of data by a team of researchers who are experts in geotechnical surveys and deepwater exploration.
Magellan’s founder, Richard Parkinson, said the data is “about ten times larger than any underwater 3D model that has ever been attempted before,” according to a reports In Wire,
Unlike 1986 being able to see the entire ship at once, using this photorealistic 3D model footage In which only a small area could be seen at a time.
Read also: New 3D map shows Milky Way is not a pancake shape but a warped wave
scan details
According to media reports, during the six-week campaign At a North Atlantic wreck site in 2022, two submarines – Romeo and Juliet – were remotely controlled by a team aboard a specialist ship. It took more than 200 hours to survey the wreckage and complete reconstruction.
The scans show how the ship lies in two parts – the bow and stern separated by about 800 meters and a vast debris field that surrounds the broken ship. The stern lies on the far sea floor as if it had been pushed into the mud.
The major challenge was the currents at the site at a depth of around 4,000 metres, which did not allow the team to touch anything, so as not to damage the wreckage. Gerhard Seifert, who led the planning of the expedition.
Seifert told BBC Another challenge was that every square centimeter had to be mapped, even “the distasteful parts” such as debris fields where there was mud. But it was necessary to fill in between all the “interesting objects”.
As the BBC reports, the scan shows clear images of the ship’s bow, boat deck which has a “gap hole”, providing a glimpse into the void where the grand staircase once stood. The visualization also shows dozens of scattered shoes resting on sediment, champagne bottles and statues that are part of the debris field.
Imaging also showed the top of the rusted bow section with railings still intact.
The researchers say that studying the stern with the help of this visualization could help determine “the mechanics of how the ship hit the ocean floor” and could potentially open a new chapter in shipwreck research.
Another great advantage scientists and historians get from the scans is the luxury of time to analyze the tragedy and study the wreckage. microbes are respectively Eat away at that.
(Editing by Anumeha Saxena)