Photo credit: Atlantic Productions
The first full-sized digital scan of the Titanic, the world’s most famous shipwreck, which lies 3,800m (12,500ft) down in the Atlantic, has been created using deep-sea mapping.
Atlantic Productions is the media partner on Magellan’s groundbreaking project to scan the Titanic and create a digital twin, which is allowing science to completely rewrite everything we know about the tragedy.
Through the largest underwater 3D capture project ever undertaken research scientists have mapped the Titanic in its entirety. From this data a ‘Digital Twin’ has been created that shows the wreck to a level of detail and clarity never seen before.
Using technology developed and perfected over five years by deep water specialist Magellan Ltd, the exact condition of wreck is revealed and the entire historic site is mapped providing a level of detail never before seen.
Scans of the wreck were carried out over a six week expedition in the Summer of 2022. A specialist ship was positioned in the North Atlantic 700km off the coast of Canada.
The expedition deployed two submersibles – named Romeo and Juliet – which spent many hours at 3,800 metres (12,500) feet below the surface mapping every millimetre of the wreck in minute detail and mapping the entire 3-mile debris field.
In accordance with tight regulations in place the wreck was not touched or disturbed, and the entire site treated with the utmost of respect, which included a flower laying ceremony in memory of those who lost their lives, as it is said by Atlantic Productions, a leading factual and multi-platform production company.
“There are still questions, basic questions, that need to be answered about the ship,” Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst, told BBC News.
He said the model was “one of the first major steps to driving the Titanic story towards evidence-based research – and not speculation.”
Parks Stephenson, who has studied the Titanic for many years, said he was “blown away” when he first saw the scans.
“It allows you to see the wreck as you can never see it from a submersible, and you can see the wreck in its entirety, you can see it in context and perspective. And what it’s showing you now is the true state of the wreck.”
