Dr. Robert Ballard revisited the R.M.S. Titanic in early June 2004 for a second time to assess the state of the wreck. “We know Titanic has been naturally deteriorating over time, but I am convinced that the deterioration is being accelerated by man-made impacts as well. The 1986 photo mosaic of the ship that we created will serve as a baseline for comparative studies to determine the level of degradation that has occurred since then,” said Ballard.
Ballard spent 11 days at the site mapping the ship and conducting scientific analyses of its deterioration. Two University of Rhode Island students joined Dr. Ballard on his 11-day expedition, Webb Pinner and Brennan Phillips. Webb Pinner is an ocean engineering graduate student and Brennan Phillips is a senior who just graduated from the ocean engineering department.
When asked to describe the feeling of getting the opportunity to explore with Dr. Ballard, Phillips said, “When I was growing up, Bob discovered the Titanic in 1985 and all the information was put in National Geographic and I’m sitting there when I was a seven-year-old saying, ‘Wow, look at these beautiful pictures.’ It was his discovery that got me into Ocean Engineering in the first place.”
Because a Canadian company owns the salvage rights to the R.M.S. Titanic, this expedition was a “look, but don’t touch mission,” said Phillips. Even though Dr. Ballard discovered the wreck, he only has the right to look at his discovery.
While most would think that not being able to touch the wreck is a disadvantage, the brilliant Dr. Ballard is still able to get as close as humanly, or robotically, possible. The technology involved in such a grand expedition is Hercules, an ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle. In laymen terms, Phillips described the Hercules as “a robot on the end of a string or tether controlled like a remote control car.”
Hercules is Dr. Ballard’s ROV and is kept at URI. Developed by Jim Newman, Ballard’s chief engineer, Hercules can reach 4,000 meters deep. It has two robotic arms to pick up objects and perform a number of valuable functions. Hercules also contains a high-definition digital camera used to go down into deep waters and take beautiful pictures.
The Titanic expedition could not be described without including the major role that engineering plays. The first role is when creating a photo mosaic of the wreck. In order to create the mosaic, Hercules must fly at a specific altitude following a specific path over the wreck two miles deep. The vehicle is capable of placing itself within 10 centimeters of a desired position.
Engineering also figures in the photos of the wreck taken by the high-definition digital camera. The sweeping images are made only possible through good piloting to create a nice camera shot.