An ambitious digital imaging project has created what researchers describe as a ‘digital twin’ of the RMS Titanic, showing the doomed wreckage of the ship in a level of detail never before photographed. It has been.
The project, carried out by Magellan, a deep-sea mapping company, generated over 16 terabytes of data, 715,000 still images, and high-definition video. The footage was filmed during a six-week expedition some 3.4 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 2022, Atlantic Productions, which is making a documentary about the project, said in a news release.
The researchers used two submersibles, dubbed Romeo and Juliet, to create a “millimetre-by-millimeter” map of the wreckage and the entire three-mile rubble area. Anthony Geffen, chief executive and creative director of Atlantic Productions, said it took about eight months to create a model showing the ship and its surrounding area lying on the ocean floor.
“We are going to write the correct science of the Titanic,” he said.
Previous images of the wreckage, which was found less than 400 miles offshore from Newfoundland in 1985, had poor light and murky water. Atlantic Productions said the new images have effectively removed the seawater, allowing the wreckage to be seen in “great detail” and pointing to the serial number on the propeller.
The largest passenger ship ever built, the Titanic collided with an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank on April 15, 1912. Many details of the disaster, which killed more than 1,500 people, have remained a mystery ever since.
Geffen said these models provide new details about the wrecks that were previously unknown. For example, one of the lifeboats was jammed with metal debris and could not be deployed, he said.
The submersible captured images of personal relics such as watches, top hats and unopened champagne bottles scattered across a field of rubble. Geffen said experts hope artificial intelligence will be able to match personal belongings of Titanic passengers. He added that one day people will be able to witness shipwrecks through virtual and augmented reality.
Atlantic Productions said, “The wreck was not touched or tampered with in accordance with the strict regulations in place,” and the site “was laid a wreath in memory of those who lost their lives.” We were treated with respect,” he added. “
“This has been a difficult task,” Magellan founder and CEO Richard Parkinson said in a statement. “In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we had to contend with the elements, inclement weather and technical challenges to carry out Titanic’s unprecedented mapping and digitization work.”
