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The ill-fated submersible Titan has been routed for its use of consumer grade hardware in displays and controls. I doubt it’s the only vessel to rely on this cl

The ill-fated submersible Titan has been routed for its use of consumer grade hardware in displays and controls. I doubt it’s the only vessel to rely on this class of electronics. I wonder what it means that despite the risks involved these products continue to make it into mission critical workflows at sea and air.

legitster 3y ago
On the USS Indiana you can seem them proudly highlighting the US of an Xbox controller: https://youtu.be/0StWrXoN8nI?t=509 https://youtu.be/0StWrXoN8nI?t=509 (Also note the insane amount of screens in the control room). But highlighting the gamepad on the Titan seems like more of a "gotcha" that journalists have latched onto than a legitimate concern. It almost certainly didn't fail because of consumer grade hardware - it failed because of poor engineering of its hull.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  Using a witeless gamepad as the primary maneuvering controls of a manned undersea vessel without an onboard backup is one (of very many) indications of reckless corner cutting, but, yes, not particularly likely the critical failure point.
chx 3y ago
Come now, the Titan should never have been built, the primary cause of loss was the carbon fiber laminate which is simply the wrong material for a submersible. This is not hindsight, there's a five year old terse answer on Quora of all places stating this: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-feasible-to-build-submarine-hulls-out-of-carbon-fiber-It-is-stronger-than-steel-per-weight-and-it-doesn-t-rust-Might-it-also-be-harder-to-detect-with-sonar/answer/Pierre-Smith-17 https://www.quora.com/Is-it-feasible-to-build-submarine-hull... and again three years ago https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-the-military-navy-using-carbon-fiber-in-the-ships-It-costs-less-and-it-s-stronger/answer/Mike-Miller-117 https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-the-military-navy-using-carbo... > Carbon fiber’s compression strength is poor. Its shear strength is low. It doesn’t dent; it either splinters or returns to shape and hides severe damage in the laminate.
Clamchop 3y ago
The Titan had multiple failsafes to drop ballast and return to the surface under its own buoyancy. One such failsafe was time-delayed by material corrosion in seawater so it would eventually ascend without intervention. The cabin electronics weren't essential to its safety. The hull might have been, though. Hard to say.

legitster 3y ago

On the USS Indiana you can seem them proudly highlighting the US of an Xbox controller: https://youtu.be/0StWrXoN8nI?t=509 https://youtu.be/0StWrXoN8nI?t=509 (Also note the insane amount of screens in the control room). But highlighting the gamepad on the Titan seems like more of a "gotcha" that journalists have latched onto than a legitimate concern. It almost certainly didn't fail because of consumer grade hardware - it failed because of poor engineering of its hull.

dragonwriter 3y ago
Using a witeless gamepad as the primary maneuvering controls of a manned undersea vessel without an onboard backup is one (of very many) indications of reckless corner cutting, but, yes, not particularly likely the critical failure point.

chx 3y ago

Come now, the Titan should never have been built, the primary cause of loss was the carbon fiber laminate which is simply the wrong material for a submersible. This is not hindsight, there's a five year old terse answer on Quora of all places stating this: https://www.quora.com/Is-it-feasible-to-build-submarine-hulls-out-of-carbon-fiber-It-is-stronger-than-steel-per-weight-and-it-doesn-t-rust-Might-it-also-be-harder-to-detect-with-sonar/answer/Pierre-Smith-17 https://www.quora.com/Is-it-feasible-to-build-submarine-hull... and again three years ago https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-the-military-navy-using-carbon-fiber-in-the-ships-It-costs-less-and-it-s-stronger/answer/Mike-Miller-117 https://www.quora.com/Why-isnt-the-military-navy-using-carbo... > Carbon fiber’s compression strength is poor. Its shear strength is low. It doesn’t dent; it either splinters or returns to shape and hides severe damage in the laminate.

Clamchop 3y ago

The Titan had multiple failsafes to drop ballast and return to the surface under its own buoyancy. One such failsafe was time-delayed by material corrosion in seawater so it would eventually ascend without intervention. The cabin electronics weren't essential to its safety. The hull might have been, though. Hard to say.