Waterloo firm has Titanic mission
2G Robotics will use laser technology to scan infamous wreck
It’s the Holy Grail of shipwrecks, and a Waterloo tech company is headed there this summer to provide the most detailed analysis of it to date. 2G Robotics will dive 3.7 kilometres to the wreck of the RMS Titanic as part of an expedition led by an American diving company to document the infamous ship and its debris field. “It was so celebrated at its launch, and there was such shock at the level of disaster that came out of it,” Jason Gillham said of why he jumped at the opportunity to be part of the expedition. He was an engineering student at the University of Waterloo when he founded 2G in 2007. “It’s the pinnacle of pop culture marine operations.” The six-week expedition will be led by OceanGate Inc., a private firm based in Everett, Wash., that specializes in manned submersible dives for industry and exploration purposes. It will leave St. John’s, N.L., in June with a crew
of about 30 people, including two from 2G Robotics.
It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, as fewer than 200 people are believed to have ever visited the wreck. OceanGate is planning 18 dives this year and expects to return in 2019 as well.
The purpose of the trip is to create a baseline reading of ship measurements and dimensions as well as the 5.2-square-kilometre debris field so future scans can assess just how quickly the site is deteriorating. Current estimates suggest the ship could disappear by 2030. OceanGate is planning to return for more dives in 2019.
Kelci Martinsen, who works for 2G and is an expert in maritime archeology, said the work is important for archeologists, scientists and historians alike.
“There are organisms called rusticles that are very unique to the Titanic,” she said. Rusticles — a term that combines “rust” and “icicles” and was coined by Robert Ballard, who found the wreck in 1985 — are composed of iron oxide and symbiotic microorganisms that eat the metal.
“As as the site deteriorates and changes, we can do future scans and compare the results,” Martinsen said.
“The laser scanning technology we’ve developed is really the cutting edge form of visualization and measurement technology,” added Gillham.
2G will use its ULS-500 PRO underwater laser scanner mounted to the outside of OceanGate’s submersible. It can generate true-scale 3D models of the wreck with accuracy down to the millimetre, meaning it will be the most accurate and detailed analysis of the Titanic since it left Southampton on its fateful maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. The laser creates a point cloud that generates a digital image of the ship.
Gilham’s firm has made a name for itself in the underwater shipwreck world after joining the expedition to help explore the HMS Erebus, part of the lost Franklin mission to the Arctic, as well as a 2016 trip to explore and document the wrecked remains of German submarine U-576 and a sunken merchant ship, Bluefields, off the coast of North Carolina.
2G has also used its laser scanning technology for industrial and infrastructure projects ranging from seawalls and pipelines, to hydro electric dams and offshore oil projects.
Jason Epp, an electronics engineer with 2G, has already spent a week in Seattle calibrating OceanGate’s submersible with 2G’s technology, and he may have the opportunity to travel to the Titanic later this year.
“I’m pretty sure the Titanic was the only shipwreck I learned about in history class,” said Epp. He’s excited for the opportunity to see it in person. “It’s probably the most famous ship in the world.”
The subject of countless books, articles and movies — including James Cameron’s recording-breaking 1997 film — the Titanic was deemed “unsinkable” when it launched more than 100 years ago, but the 269-metre long vessel struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912 and sank two hours and 40 minutes later.
More than 1,500 of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew on board died that night in the icy North Atlantic waters about 600 kilometres from Newfoundland. There were only enough lifeboats on board for about half of the passengers.
The wreck was first discovered on Sept. 1, 1985 by Ballard and the ship is protected by the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, meaning all states that are part of the convention agree to prohibit the pillaging, commercial exploitation, sale or dispersion of the wreck and its artifacts.
Previous expeditions relied on acoustic measurements, videos and photographs to get a sense of how the wreck has aged and deteriorated over the past century. 2G is proud to join the ranks of those looking to preserve the story of the Titanic.
“This is definitely one of those things when you’re growing up fascinated by the underwater world ... to have some part of that overall story, from Ballard to Cameron to OceanGate, is awesome,” Gillham said.
To help fund the expedition, OceanGate is selling spots for $105,129 per person — an amount in today’s dollars that is equal to the $4,350 travellers paid for a first-class ticket on the ship’s maiden voyage. These “mission specialists” will be aboard the ship for seven days and have the opportunity to dive to the wreck.
Limited spaces are still available.