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Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering
(arstechnica.com)
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More than the game controller and light bar, the bigger issue with this thing seems to be that it has no means of egress if lost but floating, and that the pressure vessel seems to be from titanium and carbon-fiber which, while strong and light, are brittle and therefore are more likely fail catastrophically. Navy subs creak and flex as they descend because the steel adjusts to the increased pressure. Steel will flex elastically along a good strength curve, and when it does fail, you have a little bit of wiggle room where it starts crushing like a can but might not split or pull away from the bolts.
Steel is heavy though, and this thing was mean to be carted from ship to ship and unhooked with store-bought bungee cords. The whole thing is scary AF and if that price tag still left them at a point where they were feeling like they needed to use consumer-grade parts, then maybe there just wasn't a viable business there.
I thought I read somewhere that they're not making a profit yet. I mean just the fuel costs alone have to be astronomical
If they're not making a profit as it is charging rich rubberneckers 250K a trip and cutting corners on their builds, I can't imagine they'll ever be able to do it.