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Titanic: The First Full-Size 3D Digital Scan Captures the Wreckage’s Every Detail
The RMS Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic in 1912, but the fate of the ship and its passengers has fascinated the popular imagination for more than a century. Now we have the first full-size 3D digital scan of the complete wreckage—a “digital twin” that captures Titanic in unprecedented detail. Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company, and Atlantic Productions (which is making a documentary about the project) conducted the scans over a six-week expedition last summer.
Unprecedented Detail
“Great explorers have been down to the Titanic… but actually they went with really low-resolution cameras and they could only speculate on what happened,” Atlantic Productions CEO Andrew Geffen told BBC News. “We now have every rivet of the Titanic, every detail, we can put it back together, so for the first time we can actually see what happened and use real science to find out what happened.”
A Tragic Fate
Titanic met its doom just four days into the Atlantic crossing, roughly 375 miles (600 kilometers) south of Newfoundland. At 11:40 pm ship’s time on April 14, 1912, Titanic hit that infamous iceberg and began taking on water, flooding five of its 16 watertight compartments, thereby sealing its fate. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished; only around 710 of those on board survived.
A World-Renowned Wreck
Titanic remained undiscovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean until an expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard reached the wreck on September 1, 1985. The ship split apart as it sank, with the bow and stern sections lying roughly one-third of a mile apart. The bow proved to be surprisingly intact, while the stern showed severe structural damage, likely flattened from the impact as it hit the ocean floor. There is a debris field spanning a 5-by-3-mile area, filled with furniture fragments, dinnerware, shoes, and boots, and other personal items.
The Joint Mission by Magellan and Atlantic Productions
The joint mission by Magellan and Atlantic Productions deployed two submersibles nicknamed Romeo and Juliet to map every millimeter of the wreck, including the debris field spanning some three miles. The result was a whopping 16 terabytes of data, along with over 715,000 still images and 4K video footage. That raw data was then processed to create the 3D digital twin. The resolution is so good, one can make out part of the serial number on one of the propellers.
Titanic in 3D Digital Twin
The 3D digital twin of Titanic is based on pure data cloud and stitches all the imagery together with data points created by a digital scan. With the help of artificial intelligence, we are seeing the first unbiased view of the wreck. Historian and Titanic expert Parks Stephenson believes that this is a new phase for underwater forensic investigation and examination.
FAQs
What is the digital twin?
The digital twin is the first full-size 3D digital scan of the complete wreckage of Titanic. It captures the ship in unprecedented detail that every rivet, every detail, and can put it back together.
Who conducted the scans?
The scans were conducted by Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company and Atlantic Productions. Atlantic Productions is making a documentary about the project.
What was the result of the joint mission by Magellan and Atlantic Productions?
The joint mission by Magellan and Atlantic Productions deployed two submersibles nicknamed Romeo and Juliet to map every millimeter of the wreck, including the debris field spanning some three miles. The result was a whopping 16 terabytes of data, along with over 715,000 still images and 4K video footage. That raw data was then processed to create the 3D digital twin. The resolution is so good, one can make out part of the serial number on one of the propellers.
What is the significance of the 3D digital twin of Titanic?
The 3D digital twin of Titanic is based on pure data cloud and stitches all the imagery together with data points created by a digital scan. With the help of artificial intelligence, we are seeing the first unbiased view of the wreck. Historian and Titanic expert Parks Stephenson believes that this is a new phase for underwater forensic investigation and examination.
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