Robots will head to the depths to scan the Titanic

A pair of remote-operated submersibles (ROV) is heading down to the wreckage of the Titanic this week to conduct digital 3D scans and take high-resolution images of the ship’s remains. Orchestrated by RMS Titanic, Inc., the expedition is the company’s first to visit the ship since 2010.

RMS Titanic’s seven-person crew arrived at the Titanic’s coordinates last night, according to the company’s most recent Instagram update.

RMS Titanic will compare its new scans to those taken during its 2010 expedition to document deterioration and “determine the impact of the oceans and other expeditions on the site,” writes RMS Titanic. It also hopes to discover new marine life or debris field areas and find new deterioration that could offer access to the inside of the ship.

To that end, the ROVs are equipped with “a custom-built structured array of high-resolution cameras and custom lighting” that can capture 65K imagery, the company wrote in April. The cameras are “the highest resolution camera systems ever deployed at the site,” Marine Imaging Technologies founder Evan Kovacs told Oceanographic.

The company also collects artifacts. Indiana Jones may take issue with this, but the company doesn’t believe its collection belongs in a museum. Instead, it shows them at its permanent exhibits in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida, as well as in worldwide touring exhibits. According to the site, RMS Titanic “believes it is in the best interest of the public to provide artifacts for display all over the world.”