/sci/ - Science & Math

>>3801268

>what now fag?

The "race to inner space", begun last year, involves a competition between five private entities to build a submersible that can win the X prize for deep sea exploration.

Each will be capable of descending 6.8 miles into the Challenger Deep, cruising ten miles horizontally, gathering samples and video, then returning to the surface. They must be able to do this twice in some set span of time to qualify.

Of those subs, the furthest along (Cameron's) has already been pressure tested up to 6.8 miles and has passed. One of the others (Branson's) imploded and is being redesigned with a thicker pressure hull. It is a sister ship to Cameron's sub, so the design is viable, they just used different dome materials (solid quartz versus borosilicate glass).

Pic related, the sub that will return men to the challenger deep.

Also, look at the fucking hull thickness. This is the first pic released that shows it clearly. That little inner pressure vessel is the only part of the vehicle that maintains 1atm, it's where the pilot lays down and peers through that dome.

What's crazy is, it wasn't good enough. In testing, it cracked under just 1/8th the pressure that it will experience in the Challenger Deep. Only James Cameron's custom built hydrobatic sub has passed pressure testing so far. I don't doubt Branson will catch up fast because obviously he has the money to, but kudos to Cameron for picking a winning design right out of the gate.