TITANIC
Victor 6000 rescue vehicle: What do we know about the French robot?
The remote-operated machine will work around the clock to search and potentially free the Titan submersible if it is stuck at great depths.
Rescue teams are still working around the clock to locate and rescue Titan, the tourism submersible that went missing on Sunday with five people on board.
Those efforts has continued for the past four days and hopes were raised when sounds were heard on Wednesday in the area of the North Atlantic. The voyage was supposed to visit the remains of the Titanic, located almost 4,000 meters below the surface.
To aid the search and rescue mission a submersible exploration vehicle, known as Victor 6000, has been added to the effort.
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What is the Victor 6000?
Since 1999 the French Oceanographic Fleet has been utilising the Victor 6000 to carry out observation and manipulation tasks at a depth of up to 6,000 meters. Designed specifically for scientific oceanographic work, the submersible is equipped with a high-performance navigation system with a range of sensors.
It can generate 3D optical reconstructions of the area under observation and is physically connected to a ship by an 8,000-meter electromechanical cable that supplies 20 kW of electrical power.
The device is controlled by engineers and, thanks to the fibre optic cable, has no operating time limit when making a dive.
How reliable is the Victor 6000?
The Victor 6000 is an extremely reliable piece of oceanographic machinery. In nearly 25 years in operation it has recorded more than 700 dives. It was specifically designed for scientific oceanographic work and is equipped with a high-performance navigation system.
It is thought that the Victor 6000 will first be used to aid the search for the missing submersible, but it’s really value could come if the vehicle is found. The Victor 6000 is an incredibly dextrous piece of machinery, even working at the extreme depths of the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. It could be used to attach a cable to the Titan so that the Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System System can winchit to the surface.
In 2021 a similar technique was used to rescue a sunken helicopter at a depth of 5,800 meters. However, with passengers on board, the is now a real race against time to hope those trapped on the Titan.