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Real estate billionaire from Ohio Larry Connor has plans to team up with the co-founder of Triton Submarines to move to the Titanic in 2026.
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The Triton The 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer is designed to dive more than 4,000 feet, enough to reach the ocean floor where the Titanic lives.
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Connor has long been looking for extreme adventures, having traveled to the Mariana Trench and the International Space Station.
The last time a group of adventurers attempted the Titanic, located about 10,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, it ended in a tragedy that reverberated around the world. But that failure reportedly inspired an Ohio real estate billionaire to prove that a trip to the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean can happen safely.
“I want to show people around the world that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be beautiful, enjoyable and truly life-changing if you treat it right,” says Larry Connor. The Wall Street Journal.
To make this possible, the wealthy businessman, who has already visited the Mariana Trench and the International Space Station, will team up with Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines. The pair plan to take part in the company’s 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer to drop 13,000 feet – the depth the submersible can reportedly handle – to explore the Titanic in the summer of 2026.
“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for more than ten years,” Connor tells the newspaper. “But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this submarine five years ago.”
According to The Wall Street Journalowned by OceanGate Titan‘s implosion inspired the mission. Connor reached out to Lahey, a critic of OceanGate and its practices, in the wake of the Summer 2023 news, saying the two needed to prove to the world that they were capable of something better. ‘What we need to do is build a submarine that we can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and show the world that you can do such and such Titan was a construction,” says Lahey The Wall Street Journal about what Connor told him at the time.
The implosion of the 6 meter long June 18, 2023 Titan submersible happened about an hour and 45 minutes into a mission to take five people to the sea Titanic. During the rescue attempt of the Titanremotely operated underwater vehicles found a debris field from the Titan approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.
The expected 2026 effort will take place in the Triton 4000/2 Abyss Explorer, named for its ability to send two people 4,000 meters (13,500 feet) into the depths of the ocean within the acrylic submarine’s structure.
The Triton submersible pump has what the company calls a ‘Gull Wing’ design to improve the versatility of movements. The wings retract for ascent and descent, while allowing movement through tight spaces. The wings can be partially deployed to allow the submarine to glide silently and track objects, while the fully deployed wings increase the vehicle’s propulsion, powered by eight direct-drive thrusters. Cameras on the wingtips provide a fresh view of the surroundings.
“As a platform,” the company boasts on its website, “it is Triton The capabilities of Abyssal Explorer are simply unparalleled.”
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