User:D'Nezzy Smith/DSV Limiting Factor
DSV Limiting Factor
[edit]Overview
[edit]DSV Limiting Factor is a 12-ton deep-diving submersible designed to reach full ocean depth (11,000m / 36,000ft). Named in honor of a ship in Iain M. Banks’ Culture series of science fiction novels, Limiting Factor was commissioned on June 8, 2016. The submersible was designed and built by Florida-based Triton Submarines and is currently being used by the Five Deeps Expedition in an attempt to dive to the deepest point in each of the world’s five oceans[1]. To date, the submersible has made over 17 dives, including dives to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench and Southern Ocean.
Name: DSV Limiting Factor
Manufacturer: Triton Submarines, LLC
Model: Triton 36,000/2 FOD (Full Ocean Depth)
Owner: Caladan Oceanic, LLC
Status: In active service, as of 2018
Type: Non-tethered, crews, deep-submergence vehicle (DSV)
Dry Weight: 11.7 tonnes/25,700 lbs.
Length: 4,600 mm./15 ft.
Height: 3,700 mm./12.2 ft.
Width: 1900 mm./6.2 ft.
Speed (vertical): 1.5-2 knots
Operating Depth: 11,000 m/36,000 ft.
Test Depth: 14,000 m./45,900 ft.
Crew: 2 (1 pilot, 1 scientific observer/passenger)
Development
[edit]Limiting Factor’s titanium pressure hull was developed using a new forging technique and is an entirely weld-free design; both are essential factors in achieving the near-perfect circularity essential to its ability to withstand external pressures greater than 16,000 psi/1,100 bar[3]. Measuring 90mm/3.54” thick, and 1590mm in external diameter, the hull was ultimately fabricated to 99.94% true circularity – exceeding its design requirement of 99.00%. Following its construction in the USA and Spain, Limiting Factor’s pressure hull was pressure-tested to 14,000m / 39,000ft – 20% deeper than full ocean depth - at the Krylov State Research Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Core component manufacture took place across Europe with sub-system assembly and pressure testing principally in the US, UK and Spain. Sub-assemblies were shipped to Florida, USA for final assembly.
Certification
[edit]Limiting Factor is currently undergoing third-party commercial safety standard certification by DNV-GL of Norway. Its final verification dive is scheduled for May 2019 when, under a DNV-GL engineer riding along as an observer, Limiting Factor will attempt to make a dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep[4]. If successful, Limiting Factor will become the world’s first and only manned submersible commercially certified for repeated dives to full ocean depth. The two previous submersibles to dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the Trieste (1960) and the Deepsea Challenger (2010), were technically both “experimental” craft and neither ever dove to the bottom of the ocean more than once.
Dives
[edit]Early Dives
[edit]Limiting Factor made its first dives in the Bahamas during sea trials in August and September 2018[5]. It reached depths in excess of 4,900m / 16,000ft.
The Five Deeps Expedition Dives
[edit]On December 21, 2018 Limiting Factor took explorer Victor Vescovo to the Puerto Rico Trench, reaching a depth of 8,326m / 27,480ft and surpassing the previous Atlantic record held by the French submersible Archimède. Limiting Factor became the first American-made submersible to dive deeper than 6,100m / 20,000ft since the US Navy’s DSV-4 Sea Cliff in 1985, thirty-three years earlier. On February 2019, Limiting Factor took Vescovo to the bottom of the Southern Ocean - the South Sandwich Trench - where he became the first human to do so. Limiting Factor achieved a depth of 7,433m / 24,388 ft at what the Five Deeps Expedition has proposed naming the “Factorian Deep” after the submarine that first visited it.
Future Dives
[edit]As part of the Five Deeps Expedition schedule, Limiting Factor is expected to make at least four further ultra-deep dives: The Java Trench in April 2019, Challenger Deep in May 2019, Tonga Trench in June 2019 and Molloy Deep in September 2019[6]. The sub is also scheduled to dive on the RMS Titanic in late July 2019 on its way to the Molloy Deep.
Records
[edit]- First manned submersible to dive to the deepest known point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Brownson Deep[7].
- Second-deepest solo dive ever made, by Victor Vescovo at the Brownson Deep
- First manned submersible to dive to the deepest known point in the Southern Ocean[8].
- The deepest-diving operational submersible in the world, surpassing the Chinese submersible Jiaolong which has reportedly reached a maximum depth of 7,062 m/23,169.29 ft.
- First full-ocean-depth capable submersible to undergo commercial certification by third-party classification society.
See also
[edit]- Five Deeps Expedition
- Challenger expedition
- Deep-sea exploration
Sources
[edit]- ^ Brueck, Hilary. "Humans are about to touch the deepest corners of the ocean for the first time — an endeavor as dangerous as landing on the moon". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ "Submersible". Five Deeps Expedition. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ "Understanding Structure Design of a Submarine". Marine Insight. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ Springer, Bill. "World's First Manned Expedition to Explore The 5 Deepest Places On Earth Is The Ultimate Adventure". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ Kotecki, Peter. "A $48 million submarine system will dive to the deepest point in the ocean, where only 3 people have been before". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ "Expedition". Five Deeps Expedition. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
- ^ News, Ocean. "Explorer Reaches the Deepest Point in the Atlantic Ocean in Unprecedented Solo Submersible Dive | Milestones | News". ONT. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Saplakoglu, Yasemin; December 21, Staff Writer |; ET, 2018 08:10am. "Explorer Reaches the Deepest Point in the Atlantic Ocean". Live Science. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
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