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Leaving aside the literal tons of weight a tether would require just to life a single person back to the surface (and the weight of the tether), it also could g
by HWR_14 3y ago
Leaving aside the literal tons of weight a tether would require just to life a single person back to the surface (and the weight of the tether), it also could get pushed around a lot by the current. And, most importantly, once you are down there and want to navigate the wreck it would get in the way.
- londons_explore 3y agoThe weight of the tether doesn't matter when it is in water. You just design it to be neutrally buoyant. Either using mini pressure vessels or tanks of light oil.
- WalterBright 3y agoNeutral buoyancy varies by depth, because water compresses. You'd have to have a tether with the same density of water and the same compressibility.
- londons_explore 3y agoThe compressibility of water is fairly negligible - the density increase is only 1% for every 2 kilometers of depth. And obviously the cable also compresses at depth - probably by a similar percentage,
- carlosjobim 3y agoThe metal wires in the tether is heavier than water. This is balanced by twining air/gas hoses into the tether. Gas compresses by 50% for each 10 metres of depth in water, so that's a whole different scale.
- londons_explore 3y agoYou either put floats (ie. Gas chambers of fixed volume) or sealed tanks of a light liquid, for example kerosene. For high depth like this, tanks of a light liquid are probably most suitable. I'd probably use liquid butane. With a vapour pressure of 40 psi, it is easy to contain, and is has a density of only half of water. If it leaks, there won't be an environmental cleanup cost either.
- js2 3y agoThe Jason ROV has a 6-mile tether, so it's possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_(ROV) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_(ROV) Titanic was also discovered with a tethered sled, the Argo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(ROV) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(ROV) It was then explored with a combination DSV and tethered ROV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Alvin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSV_Alvin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Jr.