The missing submersible OceanGate Titan might have relief efforts scurrying to find the lost vessel, but the capsule itself was actually controlled by an old Logitech controller.
OceanGate Titan, the submersible designed to take tourists exploring the depths of the sea, has gone missing near the wreckage of the Titanic. The vessel currently has five people aboard and was estimated to have between 70 to 96 hours of oxygen.
While the search continues, people have begun to dig up some odd things about the Titan submersible. This includes the fact it was controlled by a video game controller. Controllers are regularly used in the army, and a Steam Deck was recently deployed by the Ukrainian army. So, to see that it has some application in the field isn’t too surprising.
However, the OceanGate Titan was controlled by a Logitech G F710, which was released in 2011. The customized controller was shown off in a now-deleted video from CBC, where it featured two cones attached to the top of the sticks.
During a CBS program about the submarine, the CEO, Stockton Rush, elaborated that the whole vessel is controlled by it. He also pointed out that most of the components on board are “off-the-shelf components” and the light affixed on the top of the sub is from “Camper World”.
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Y’all please watch this. It’s a CBS story that aired a while back about that submarine that is now missing. The creators of that missing submarine are DEEPLY unserious. pic.twitter.com/B6JriITyZj
— Marie, MSN, APRN, FNP-C (@FnpMarieOH) June 19, 2023
OceanGate Titan has no emergency beacon
The more the internet begins to dig into the OceanGate Titan, the more it uncovers various issues with the submersible vessel.
A CBS presenter, David Pogue, who made a short program on the submarine five months ago, revealed that the vessel has no emergency beacon onboard. Without this, the submarine is without an easy way for rescuers to track the vehicle under the sea.
This submersible does not have any kind of beacon like that. On my expedition last summer, they did indeed get lost for about 5 hours, and adding such a beacon was discussed…
— David Pogue (@Pogue) June 19, 2023
Pogue also tweeted how when reporting on the OceanGate Titan, it went missing for five hours. During this time, OceanGate turned off the internet on the boat to prevent anyone from tweeting about the incident.
To be clear, I was not on the sub that day—I was on the ship at the surface, in the control room. They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. It was quiet and very tense, and they shut off the ship’s internet to prevent us from tweeting.
— David Pogue (@Pogue) June 19, 2023
This paints a somewhat grim picture of the quality of the Titan vessel itself, as well as OceanGate’s own practices.