[image ID: a 3D model of a pink human head rotating and crumpling like it's had the air sucked out of it. end ID.]
everything about this is a shitshow, to the point that I can't even feel bad for the people involved.
- the sub used nonstandard construction and safety procedures because ~innovation can't wait for a regulatory entity~
- literally the techbros responsible for this cited spacex as a comparable project (yknow, the company that makes the exploding rockets?)
- one of these "features" is that the sub is sealed by 17 deadbolts secured from the outside so they literally cannot escape even if it surfaces
- honestly it's barely a sub. it's a 20ft long windowless capsule piloted via a modified third-party video game controller
- lots of the other on-board equipment is improvised shit the founder got at camper supply or elsewhere
- it also used musk's starlink satellites for communication, which may be related to the failure
- the sole safeguard they had outside of "very strong hull" was about 3-4 days of extra oxygen
- tickets to get on board this deathtrap ran $250k.
- one of the billionaire passengers aboard was quoted as saying these are some of the worst weather conditions for a trip like this in 40 years, but they thought there was a decent window to try a dive anyway
- again. these dudes paid $250k to ride in a 20ft long, windowless capsule, bolted shut from the outside, amid terrible weather conditions...come on
- the founder of the company that made this deathtrap is also aboard it
literally the kindest thing that could happen to them is that they had a breach and compressed instantly
multiple days in a windowless capsule slowly asphyxiating is a horrific way to go
the chances they'll be found are almost nil. given that it takes 4 hours to reach the titanic going straight down, and contact was lost within 2, they could have been swept away to literally anywhere. search teams have to check hundreds of miles of open ocean surface AND depths exceeding 13,000ft for this 20ft long hunk of jank.
