Pipeline ship, diving robots, airplanes: these high-tech devices are used to search for the submarine

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Wednesday there was a glimmer of hope. Rescue workers said they heard knocking noises while searching for the missing Titanic submarine “Titan”. However, the subsequent search did not yield a positive result. The air is becoming increasingly scarce for the occupants of the submarine, and they threaten to run out of oxygen on Thursday afternoon.

The emergency services have already searched almost 26,000 square kilometers. The rescuers now have a whole arsenal of high-tech devices at their disposal for the search. Blick lists the machines.

Planes continue to circle over the Atlantic Ocean. A Canadian Boeing P8-A Poseidon is said to have recorded the knocking sound on Wednesday. This is according to various media reports from an internal document of the US government.

The devices on board the P8-A can locate things underwater. Tapping was therefore recorded every 30 minutes.

The US Coast Guard said the aircraft that heard the knock was a Canadian Lockheed P-3. In any case, both types of these submarine fighters are in service.

According to the classified document, the P8-A Poseidon deployed sonar buoys. These emit sound waves, allowing objects to be located underwater. There was also a contact, it is said. However, it is very unlikely that it was the Titan.

On Tuesday, cargo planes from the US Air Force transported new rescue equipment to the Canadian island of Newfoundland. The material was loaded onto the ship «Horizon Arctic». The boat is now on its way to the search area. But it will take some time before that happens.

According to “ITV”, there should be a robot on board that can dive thousands of meters deep. Another load therefore contained two powerful winches with the inscription “6000 kg cable pull” on the side.

The robot is owned by Pelagic Research Services (PRS) of Massachusetts. A statement on the PRS website reads: “PRS has been approached by Ocean Gate to provide critical assistance in the current rescue operation of the submarine Titan in the North Atlantic.” PRS owns an underwater robot called Odysseus 6K that can perform missions to a depth of 6,000 meters.

A pipelayer is also involved in the rescue operation. The industry portal “Energy Voice” reports that this is the “Deep Energy” of the exhibition group TechnipFMC. She’s been there since Tuesday.

Originally used to submerge pipelines, the Deep Energy is now equipped with submersible robots. These are remote-controlled vehicles that descend on a thin cable, transmit images and are controlled by a remote control. The ship is one of the largest and fastest of its kind and was built in 2013.

Also en route are the French research vessel L’Atalante, owned by the marine research institute Ifremer, and the Canadian HMS Glace Bay, which is bringing a decompression chamber and medical personnel to the search area. To avoid permanent damage, divers who have had an accident should be moved to such chambers as soon as possible.

Another diving robot awaits deployment aboard the L’Atalante. “It carries the autonomous robot ‘Victor 6000’, which can dive to a depth of 6,000 metres,” said Ifremer.

On Wednesday, three other ships also arrived at the scene, the US Coast Guard announced. The “John Cabot” is intended to assist in the search with its sonar functions, the Skandi Vinland is a multi-purpose vessel and, like the supply ship “Atlantic Merlin”, follows certain search patterns.

Meanwhile, the US Navy sent the rescuers the Fadoss deep-sea recovery system. It is intended for subsea salvage and will be transported by the Horizon Arctic. A spokeswoman said it would arrive in Newfoundland on Wednesday evening and be taken out to sea from there. The “Fadoss” system “is a portable boat lift system that provides reliable deep-sea lifting capacity of up to 27 tons for the recovery of large, bulky and heavy sunken objects such as airplanes or small ships,” according to the Navy’s website. A remote-controlled diving robot could attach ropes to the submarine at depth and the system would then be used to pull it up.

Source: Blick