Titanic seen in unprecedented details and clarity in first full-size 3D scan

NEW DELHI,MAY 19 : In a first full-size digital scan of the infamous Titanic shipwreck, some unprecedented details of the ship have been documented, the companies behind a new documentary on the wreck said on Thursday. A team of deep-sea researchers completed the digital scan of the Titanic, while they spent six weeks last summer in the North Atlantic, mapping the whole shipwreck and the surrounding debris field.

The researchers used two remotely operated submersibles to scan the wreck and the 3-mile radius around it, and also found some personal belongings of passengers onboard the ship, such as shoes and watches, etc.

View of the bow of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean, created using deep-sea mapping, in a grab taken from a digital scan released by Atlantic/Magellan. (Photo: AP)

The resulting data has been estimated to be around 15,000 images, which is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted before, as claimed by Richard Parkinson, the founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan.

Anthony Geffen, head of the documentary maker Atlantic Productions, says the new images are much better in quality as the previous images of the Titanic were often limited by low light levels and only allowed viewers to see one area of the wreck at a time. In the photorealistic 3D model, both the bow and stern sections are well captured.

Another view of the bow of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean created using deep-sea mapping. (Photo: AP)

“Everything is in clear detail — including the serial number on the propeller. It’s an absolutely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin,’ of the Titanic in every detail,” Geffen said. He further said that though the documentary has covered most aspects of the historical ship as we know so far, he hopes the new technology will help researchers work out details of how the Titanic met its fate and allow people to interact with history in a fresh way.

The documentary, which is largely based on the large amount of data that the researchers have procured over seven months, is expected to come out next year.

A view of part of the propeller of the Titanic, in the Atlantic Ocean created using deep-sea mapping. (Photo:AP)

The Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City when it hit an iceberg off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. The luxury ocean liner sank within hours, killing about 1,500 people. The wreck, discovered in 1985, lies some 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) under the sea, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) off the coast of Canada.

 “All our assumptions about how it sank, and a lot of the details of the Titanic come from speculation because there is no model that you can reconstruct, or work exact distances,” he said.

 “I’m excited because this quality of the scan will allow people in the future to walk through the Titanic themselves … and see where the bridge was and everything else.”

A view of the bow of the Titanic, in the Atlantic Ocean in the first full-size digital scan by deep-sea researchers. (Photo: AP)

Parks Stephenson, a leading Titanic expert who was involved in the project, called the modelling a “gamechanger.”

“I’m seeing details that none of us have ever seen before and this allows me to build upon everything that we have learned to date and see the wreck in a new light,” he said. “We’ve got actual data that engineers can take to examine the true mechanics behind the breakup and the sinking and thereby get even closer to the true story of the Titanic disaster.”

-The India Today