Heaton was referring to “experimental” elements of the Titan’s design, including a carbon-fibre main hull section. Most deep-sea submersibles are made with titanium or steel alloys and are certified by industry third parties to ensure they meet safety standards.
A Nuytco Research two-person diving sub at Pier 94 in North Vancouver. Jeff Heaton is piloting the sub.On Friday, film director James Cameron, who became a deep-sea explorer after researching and making the movie Titanic, told“We celebrate innovation, right? But you shouldn’t be using an experimental vehicle for paying passengers who aren’t themselves deep ocean engineers,” Cameron said, comparing the Titan to the Titanic, saying both tragedies were preceded by unheeded warnings.
Nuytco Research’s top market right now is the military as it works on submarine rescue systems to bring people from damaged subs to the surface, rather than surfacing an entire vessel. The company also builds submersibles and develops technology for research and commercial purposes, such as salvage, recovery and underwater construction. Tourism is not a major part of what they do.
“I think the future of subsea research is very strong,” said Heaton. Advances in computer programming that allow for large volumes of data to be collected and analyzed could lead to rapid advances, with aThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.He predicted that the Titan incident might lead to a “bit of a pause” on tourism, which has been “booming” in recent years.
Ron Toigo aboard the Titan submersible last year — with the bow of the Titanic visible out the mini-sub’s porthole. Photo: OceanGates Expeditions.