First-ever 3D scans of the Titanic reveal new details of ship's final hours 113 years ago
'Fresh advances in 3D scanning technology' has offered 'a view' 'never' seen 'before' of the wreck of the Titanic.
On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean four days into her maiden voyage from Southhampton, England, with the end destination of New York, US.
The ship had around 2,224 people onboard when she struck an iceberg at 23:40 and ended up sinking to her final resting place - 12,500ft underwater.
Over 100 years have passed since the ship's sinking and much information has been unearthed - dishes, shoes and furniture being uncovered - however, much has remained a mystery, until now that is.
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National Geographic and Atlantic Productions have worked together to produce a new documentary titled Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, which reveals the results of scans carried out on the wreckage and how they helped form 'an exact digital twin'.
How the scans were taken and used to form a 3D replica
National Geographic's trailer for the documentary reflects 'many expeditions have been down to the Titanic but it's pitch black down there'.
"This digital twin is the most impactful thing since the wreck was first found," it claims, with a voice adding: "This is a view I've never had before."
But how was the 'digital twin' former?
Well, in 2022 over a period of three weeks, deep-sea mapping company based in the Channel Islands, Magellan, sent two remote-operated underwater robots - named Romeo and Juliet of course - down to the bed of the Atlantic ocean to move around the wreckage of the Titanic to take images of the ship.
A whopping total of around 715,000 images were taken alongside laser measurements, National Geographic reporting it's 'the largest underwater 3D scan ever made, amounting to 16 terabytes of data (equivalent to the hard drive footprint of six million e-books).
The images were then used alongside a computer mapping technology to create the digital model and uncover new information about the infamous ship.
But what did the model reveal?
New details discovered
Well, National Geographic details the model is 'densely detailed' - a video rendering of it projected onto the side of a warehouse in 'life-size' form allowing researchers to 'walk alongside it and zoom in and out on individual features'.
They were able to study in more detail parts of the ship 'like a steam valve from the boiler room, which the scan revealed was left open, possibly to keep an emergency generator running as the ship sank'.
The 3D scanning confirmed the ship lies 'broken in two pieces' 'with the bow and stern about 2,600 feet apart'.
However, it also revealed what may've happened to the stern as researchers have never able to definitively say what happened to cause it to shatter.
The scan revealed the hull 'descended in a straight line and is largely still intact—which shows it neatly wedged into the ocean floor'.
And when retired naval officer and Titanic historian Parks Stephenson looked at the scan, he theorized the 'back half of the ship spiral[led] as it sank' causing the stern to shatter and 'disintegrate into [the] rubble'.
The report added: "The Titanic twin adds to a growing list of similar models made of archaeological and cultural sites around the world that both preserve these fragile places and provide a new means of exploring them," the report notes.
Stevenson resolved: "Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell."
Titanic: The Digital Resurrection is currently set for release on Friday (April 11) on National Geographic or stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Topics: Technology, Titanic, World News, YouTube
Poppy Bilderbeck