Going deep
By Clay Dillow Posted 04.27.2011 at 11:02 am 9 Comments

The Triton 1000 Modeled after earlier iterations of Triton's submersibles, the borosilicate glass dome of the Triton 36,000 will be able to withstand far greater pressures. Triton Submarines

The last time an ocean submersible took a crew down to Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the Mariana Trench (about 36,000 feet below the surface), it was 1960. Now, submersible designers Triton Submarines aims to take humans down to Challenger Deep again using their newly designed submersible Triton 36,000.

This is something of a technological leap for Triton. Its current submersibles are mostly designed for scientists and yacht owners and only dive to depths of about 3,300 feet. To move its maximum depth by an order of magnitude Triton enlisted the help of Rayotek Scientific, who redesigned the company’s domed passenger compartment with a novel new kind of material.

This borosilicate glass gets stronger under compression, so the deeper you take the submersible, the stronger the glass gets. Up to a point, of course. Before Triton 36,000 attempts to take a crew of three down to the deepest point in the oceans, it will have to undergo testing at pressures at least one and a quarter times the pressure at Challenger Deep.

Triton 36,000, in Profile:  Triton Submarines

[PhysOrg]

9 Comments

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CodeZero
04/27/11 at 11:12 am

Amazing concept... Fingers crossed that this goes well, The dome shape will certainly help stave off compression, Good luck and God's Speed!

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TrulyVisionary
04/27/11 at 11:16 am

The seeker of knowledge who seeks to reach beyond the stars to go where no mans gone before to see things no man has seen and bring these experiences back for the whole world to hear and see.

I wonder what kind of feeling one would have if they seen that dome cracking at that depth of 36.000 ft i wonder comment back.

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judas
04/27/11 at 11:43 am

@truly. HOLY S**T! We're gonna die!

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wylekyote
04/27/11 at 12:32 pm

@TrulyVisionary

Jacques Piccard and Lt. Donald Walsh from the US Navy went to the Challenger deep first and a plexiglass outer window cracked when they were approaching maximum depth. From my understanding they chose to continue on despite the possible risks. . .I'm sure it was a little scary down there when that was going on.

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BaPef
04/27/11 at 4:09 pm

@TrulyVisionary

I am sure it would be something along the lines of holy jebus!...

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NOM
04/27/11 at 4:52 pm

Hang on. Here is somwhere that we went to in the '60s and haven't been back since.

How come the conspiracy theorists aren't claiming that this was a government hoax?

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drchuck1
04/28/11 at 1:28 pm

thanks, now they will

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dustmuster
04/28/11 at 5:01 pm

how are they going to subject the entire craft to 1.5 times the pressure?

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Plutonium239
05/09/11 at 3:11 pm

I read on the race to inner space website that Triton Submersibles and Rayotek plan on building the world's largest pressure test chamber in order to test the complete submersible. An expensive but sensible plan. Just by looking at the Triton 36000/3 its difficult to visualize it at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The Trieste sure looked 'the business' but the Triton looks very delicate with its glass pressure hull!!



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