Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that he is building “ a tiny , kid - sizing submarine ” to deliver the 12 Tai boys and their soccer omnibus infamously trapped within the submerged Tham Luang cave complex . allot to theBangkok Post , a nine - person engineering science squad set up by Musk has already begin to arrive in the sphere .
Officials were originally relieve tolocate the mathematical group at allafter it became lost in the cave system of rules during heavy rain on June 23rd . But the soccer team ’s situation hasgrown more dire as of latewith the threat of further seasonal monsoon rainfall , and the death of a former Royal Thai Navy special force play diver charge to bolsterdwindling oxygen reserve .
Thai official are currently working on adaring , but very risky , plan to rescue the squad by pumping as much urine from the cave system as possible , equipping the boys and coach with scuba gear , and then helping them navigate the distortion , flooded 2.5 - mile ( four km ) passage back to the entering . Musk tweeted on Saturday that while he had several alternative plans , his squad of experts had agree that the upright approximation was building a low submarine — really more of an aviation - satiate pod—“using the liquid O transfer of training tube of [ a SpaceX ] Falcon skyrocket as Isaac Hull . ” He added that it would be designed to be accomplishable with the efforts of two divers .
Got more great feedback from Thailand . Primary path is basically a tiny , kid - size of it submarine using the fluid oxygen transfer underground of Falcon rocket as hull . Light enough to be carried by 2 frogman , small enough to get through narrow gaps . Extremely robust .
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)July 7 , 2018
Musk further arrogate that the submarine was already under construction and provided some details of its construction , saying it had 4 handgrip on its front and back and a total of four oxygen tank adhesion points .
Construction utter in about 8 hours , then 17 minute escape to Thailand
4 handles / hitch point on front & 4 on rear . 2 air tank connections on front & 2 on ass , allow 1 to 4 cooler at the same time connected , all recessed for impact protective covering w lowly cap sealing wax if leak develop .
Other ideas Musk has floated included “ building an inflatable electron tube with air lock ” as well as providingpumps and stamp battery packsto help clear out water in the cave organisation . Though Musk ’s Boring Company is known for drilling , CNN reportedthat the timetable for rescue the team before further flooding pass is likely too short to prod down to them unless authorities discover passages result closer to the cave where they are trapped . ( An effort to rescue Chilean miners via digging in 2010took 69 day . )
This all sounds very overnice in theory — transferring the child back in an air - filled pod could be less hazardous than impromptu dive training — but whether or not the Thai government activity is unforced to calculate on Musk ’s root as contradict to the expertness of its divers is indecipherable . AsSlate observe , an official Thai government Porto Rico page on Facebookacknowledgedthat it was receive Musk ’s team , but referred only to “ location trailing , pee pumping or battery magnate . ” Speaking with Slate , Anmar Mirza of the National Speleological Society ’s National Cave Rescue Commission was skeptical that more engineering was necessarily the solution , especially on the pumping front :
“ With all due obedience to Mr. Musk , I am not sure that he or his engine driver have a literal good handgrip on precisely what they ’re deal with in this particular place , ” aver Mirza , commenting on the delivery - military operation brainstorm Musk was impart over the last two days on Twitter . “ The squad work are already doing as much pumping as can feasibly be done in there . They have enough pumping power . ”
National Speleological Society theatre director Rick Speaect additionally differentiate Slate that any object that obstruct urine from flowing within the cave could just end up “ building up a dekameter behind it for the duration of time it takes someone to get through there , because that flowing water is not going to stop . ”
According to Bloomberg , Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of mechanically skillful technology Douglas Hart also admonish that any equipment or tube-shaped structure sent into the cave would have to be work up sturdily enough to resist water system pressure that could potentially reach two tons of personnel , as well as survive being swept or banged against the uncut surface of the cave system .
ThePost reportedthat while Musk ’s nine - humankind squad was scheduled to come by the remnant of the weekend , Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn said that an attempt may be forthcoming in the next few day without indicating which design they had settled on . Narongsak warn that another flood could leave the association football team with “ less than 10 hearty metre ” on the rocky platform on which they are residing .
“ Now and in the next three or four days , the circumstance are complete in condition of the water , the weather and the boys ’ health , ” Narongsak said . “ We have to make a clear decision on what we can do . ”
[ Ars Technica ]
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