LONDON: Researchers have completed the first full-size digital scan of the deep sea TitanicShowing the entire wreckage in unprecedented detail and clarity, the companies behind a new documentary on the wreckage said Thursday.
Using two remotely operated submarines, a team of researchers spent six weeks last summer North Atlantic Mapping the entire shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field, where the ocean liner’s passengers’ personal belongings such as shoes and watches were strewn.
Richard ParkinsonThe founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated that the resulting data – consisting of 715,000 images – is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model.
“It’s a completely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin’ in every detail of the Titanic,” said Anthony Geffen, head of documentary maker Atlantic Productions.
Titanic was on its maiden voyage southamptonThe New York City, England, luxury ocean liner sank within hours after hitting an iceberg off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, killing nearly 1,500 people.
The wreck, discovered in 1985, lies 12,500 feet (3,800 m) under the ocean, about 435 miles (700 km) off the coast of Canada.
Geffen says previous images of the Titanic were often limited to low light levels, and only allowed viewers to see one area of the wreckage at a time. He said the new 3D model captures both the bow and stern sections, which were separated when it sank, in clear detail – including the serial number on the propeller.
The researchers have spent seven months collecting massive amounts of data, and a documentary on the project is expected to come out next year. But beyond that, Geffen says he hopes the new technology will help researchers uncover details of how the Titanic met its fate and allow people to interact with history anew.
“All of our assumptions about how it sank, and a lot of the details of the Titanic, come from speculation, because there’s no model that you can reconstruct, or exact distances,” he said. “I’m excited because this quality of scan will allow people in the future to walk through Titanic … and see where the bridge was and everything else.”
Using two remotely operated submarines, a team of researchers spent six weeks last summer North Atlantic Mapping the entire shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field, where the ocean liner’s passengers’ personal belongings such as shoes and watches were strewn.
Richard ParkinsonThe founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated that the resulting data – consisting of 715,000 images – is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model.
“It’s a completely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin’ in every detail of the Titanic,” said Anthony Geffen, head of documentary maker Atlantic Productions.
Titanic was on its maiden voyage southamptonThe New York City, England, luxury ocean liner sank within hours after hitting an iceberg off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, killing nearly 1,500 people.
The wreck, discovered in 1985, lies 12,500 feet (3,800 m) under the ocean, about 435 miles (700 km) off the coast of Canada.
Geffen says previous images of the Titanic were often limited to low light levels, and only allowed viewers to see one area of the wreckage at a time. He said the new 3D model captures both the bow and stern sections, which were separated when it sank, in clear detail – including the serial number on the propeller.
The researchers have spent seven months collecting massive amounts of data, and a documentary on the project is expected to come out next year. But beyond that, Geffen says he hopes the new technology will help researchers uncover details of how the Titanic met its fate and allow people to interact with history anew.
“All of our assumptions about how it sank, and a lot of the details of the Titanic, come from speculation, because there’s no model that you can reconstruct, or exact distances,” he said. “I’m excited because this quality of scan will allow people in the future to walk through Titanic … and see where the bridge was and everything else.”