“There are only two things that could mean. “So if there was a pressure failure, it’s going to be very fast and it’s just going to be over in a second,” Stone said.ĬBS News journalist David Pogue said the vessel’s two communications systems stopped working about an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan submerged on Sunday. The water pressure 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface at the site of the Titanic wreck is roughly 400 atmospheres or 6,000 PSI. The best chance to reach the submersible could be to use a remotely operated robot on a fiber optic cable, said Jeff Karson, a professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University.Ī breach of the Titan’s hull at depth would mean instant death from the heavy pressure in the deep ocean. The problem in that scenario is finding another vessel that can go deep enough for a rescue. “It sends a message that you’re probably using military techniques to find me and this is how I’m saying it,” said Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert. The noises are encouraging because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their hull to be detected by sonar. Coast Guard said they couldn’t say what was making the noises but they are searching the area where they were detected. That would be the best case scenario, but even then there would not necessarily be any survivors, said Lawrence Brennan, a professor at Fordham University’s School of Law.

The system was designed to work even if everyone on board is unconscious. The Titan has built-in safety systems that help it rise to the surface in case of emergency including sandbags and lead pipes that can be released, as well as an inflatable balloon. There are several possible outcomes for the Titan and its passengers. The five people on board are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, the company leading the expedition British adventurer Hamish Harding Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a father and son from a prominent Pakistani family and French undersea explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet. Even if the Titan is located in the North Atlantic, it could be nearly impossible to reach if it is stuck on the ocean floor at roughly 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) near the Titanic’s wreckage.

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