Expedition to Capture First 4K Images of the Titanic
A manned submersible set to survey the RMS Titanic wreck site this summer will be equipped with a range of high-tech underwater imaging equipment that will capture the first ever 4K images of the historic shipwreck.
Starting in June 2018, manned submersible services provider OceanGate Inc. will lead a group of scientists, content experts and mission specialists to explore and survey the wreck site in a series of week-long missions from St. John’s, Newfoundland.
For the mission, OceanGate's manned submersible Cyclops 2 will be equipped with cameras and lights from Canadian firm SubC Imaging, including one Rayfin 4K camera, one 1Cam MK6 and Aquorea LED lights, as well as digital video recording and overlay media management software.
The advanced equipment will be the primary means for capturing images and video of the iconic wreck throughout the expedition. The collected 4K images and videos will be compiled with sonar and laser scans to create to create a detailed 3D virtual model of the wreck that will serve as a baseline to help researchers gauge the decay of the wreck, and to document and preserve its submerged history over time.
“SubC Imaging has pioneered the way subsea images are collected,” said Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate. “With the first ever 4K images of Titanic we can share this wreck the world with a clarity that has never been seen before.”
Leading up to the expedition, SubC Imaging and OceanGate crews are working to integrate, configure and calibrate the equipment, with the first rounds of testing starting as early as December 2017 in Everett, Wash., followed by deep-sea validation and testing in March and April of 2018.