Final Dive Made to Put Repaired Robot in Titanic
Scientists in a miniature submarine made their final descent to the Titanic wreckage Thursday with a repaired camera-toting robot and renewed hopes for pictures deep inside the luxury liner.
In dives last week the tethered robot, Jason Jr., descended the grand staircase into the main ballroom and other sections of the Titanic. Shelley Lauzon, spokeswoman at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said chief scientist Robert Ballard hoped to extend the robot as far as possible on its 250-foot tether from the three-man submarine, Alvin.
Woods Hole officials said a loose electrical wire that kept researchers from using Jason Jr. on Tuesday and Wednesday had been repaired.
Last of 11 Dives
Thursday’s dive was the last of 11 to be conducted on the mission undertaken by Woods Hole and the Navy. No other explorations are planned at the site where 1,513 people were killed when the ocean liner struck an iceberg in April, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York.
Previous dives produced video footage and color slides of the Titanic’s once-posh interior, including a shot of a dangling chandelier.
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