French Navy reports that Atalante, the ship connected to a robot with cameras navigating in deep waters, slowed down in the zone where the submarine conducting an expedition to the Titanic disappeared.
A French research ship carrying a deep-sea diving robot slowed down on Thursday morning (June 22) while searching in the area where the submarine conducting the Titanic expedition lost contact with its base.
The decrease in speed, according to experts, could indicate that the probe, connected to the ship by a fiber optic cable, has found something on the seabed. However, there was no confirmation of this as of the latest update of this news.
The deceleration was recorded by Marine Traffic, a website that shows ship traffic worldwide.
The ship that reportedly slowed down is the Atalante, a research vessel of the French Navy carrying the Victor 6000, a robot with cameras and probes that explores the depths of the ocean. It is one of the few equipment in the search operation for the submarine capable of reaching the depth of 3,800 meters below the surface, where the remains of the Titanic are located.
Maritime traffic data showed that the Atalante had slowed down to a speed of 6 knots (about 11 km/h) and was located about 25 kilometers from the Polar Prince ship, which transported the missing submarine to the surface above the Titanic wreckage on Sunday (June 18).
Disappearance
A series of questions and answers can help understand the disappearance of the submarine that was searching for the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic.
🚢 What was the objective of the expedition? The main target of the expedition was the Titanic wreckage, which sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912.
🧭 Where is the Titanic wreckage located? It is located at a depth of about 3,800 meters, 650 km off the coast of Canada.
💵 Who organizes the expedition and how much does it cost? The maritime tourism company OceanGate Expeditions is responsible for the expedition, which charges $250,000 (R$1.19 million) per passenger.
🗓️ When did the submarine disappear? The expedition started on Friday (June 16), departing from Newfoundland, Canada. The descent itself began on Sunday (June 18). It was expected to take about two hours to reach the Titanic wreckage, but the module lost communication after 1 hour and 45 minutes of travel.
🔎 Who is on board? The submarine pilot is Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate. In addition to him, there are four passengers: Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood (Shahzada’s son), British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, and former French Navy commander Paul-Henry Nargeolet, the main expert on the Titanic wreck.
🎮 What is the submarine like? The submarine, called Titan, measures 6.5 meters in length by 3 meters in width. It weighs over 10 tons and is made of carbon fiber and titanium. It is guided by a joystick that closely resembles a video game controller, moves at a speed of 3 knots (5.5 km/h), and is propelled by four thrusters. It can accommodate up to five people and is not autonomous like a large submarine, which is why it needed to be carried on the surface of the sea for 643 km to the descent region.
📝 What could have happened? Experts have the following theories: the submarine may be on the ocean floor, it may be floating on the surface, or it may have imploded under the pressure of the water column.