Richard Branson’s not the only one eager to explore that other 70 percent of the world. Triton Submarines has designed a three-passenger sub able to dive 36,000 feet, reaching the deepest part of the world’s oceans. And while Sir Richard envisions a spaceship-like craft, Triton’s design evokes old school bathyspheres: it’s a glass globe. Of course, water pressure poses a serious engineering challenge when you descend seven miles below the surface — the last manned sub to reach that depth had only a single, small window made of plexiglass. The current design uses borosilicate glass (like those transparent displays we, um, saw through a while back) that actually grows stronger as depth pressure increases; it took eight months of careful heating and cooling to produce. Assuming the glass holds, it will take about 75 minutes to reach the bottom of the ocean. Anyone considering a test run should check out the PR video after the break, showing Triton’s other submarines in action.
Continue reading Triton 36,000 submarine to plumb ocean’s deepest depths, comes in yellow (video)
Triton 36,000 submarine to plumb ocean’s deepest depths, comes in yellow (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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