When the Titan submarine exploded there was nothing left to rescue. Except one very important thing: a memory card

It has been more than two years since the Titan submarine tragedy and the story continues to make people talk. The last thing we know is that the recovery teams found the camera that was part of the submarine. The camera was damaged, but inside it housed a memory card from which they were able to extract image and video files, although none from the implosion.

The discovery. Youtuber Scott Manley told it in your X account. In a series of posts, Manley has published several images of the camera’s recovery report detailing its characteristics and condition. It was a Rayfin Mk2 Benthic underwater cameracapable of submerging up to 6,000 meters deep thanks to its titanium body. Although the case appeared intact, the sapphire crystal lens was shattered. Upon disassembly, many of the components had light damage, but one of the boards included an SD card that was in good condition.

The content of the card. Investigators and forensics managed to make a duplicate of the card and extract the contents. In total, they obtained nine images and twelve videos. However, the camera had been configured to save the captures on an external storage device, so it did not contain any images from the day of the fateful dive, but rather they were images taken at the Marine Institute in Newfoundland, which was where the missions to the Titanic departed. In the images they have shared you can see the facilities and some underwater images, but at shallow depths.

Catastrophic implosion. The Titan left Newfoundland on June 16, 2023. An hour and 45 minutes had passed when communication was lost, but it was not until four days later that the coast guard found the first remains of the vehicle and confirmed what they suspected: it had imploded. They found remains of the vehicle, but no body of the five crew members could be found.

It was avoidable. The Titanic is located at a depth of 3,800 meters, where the pressure is 380 atmospheres. There is vehicles capable of reaching this depth and even more, but the Titan had a long history of problems and his own Former director of operations called the tragedy avoidable. In fact, several members of the underwater exploration community, including James Cameron, They had written a letter to OceanGate where they expressed their concern and assured that they were “going down the path of catastrophe.” The company ceased its activity after the accident.

Image | Scott Manley in X

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