3D scan of Titanic reveals wreck as never seen before

3D scan of Titanic reveals wreck as never seen before

We are currently en route to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to explore a renowned shipwreck that has captured global attention through numerous documentaries and Hollywood films. However, there is a unique perspective of the Titanic that has remained unseen until this morning. Utilizing advanced technology, experts have meticulously mapped the entirety of the sunken vessel on the seabed, effectively generating its digital replica. Our science editor, Rebecca Morrell, has been granted exclusive access to this remarkable undertaking.

nearly 4 000 meters down in the murky

depths of the Atlantic the Titanic

it's so huge that in the Gloom cameras

can only ever show us tantalizing

snapshots of the decaying ship never the

whole thing but now a new project has

revealed the wreck as it's never been

seen before

there aren't many places big enough for

the wreck of the Titanic but this is one

of them the stadium where the 2012

London Olympics was held

a full-sized scan of the wreck has been

captured and to appreciate its scale

we've superimposed it in the stadium

the Titanic was simply colossal and this

3D scan reveals the wreck in its

entirety for the first time we have an

exact digital copy of the real thing and

what you see here is what's lying on the

floor of the North Atlantic Ocean or not

only can we get an idea of the ship's

enormous size this scan also gives us a

close-up view of its smallest details

you can explore the wreck from every

angle the boat deck here can be seen

from above the gaping hole provides a

glimpse inside where the grand staircase

once stood

and this is what's left of the captain's

bridge and the Wheelhouse covered in

fragile stalactites of rust

already some remarkable detail can be

seen like this serial number on a

propeller

what makes this different it is a true

digital twin of the Titanic the

resolution is phenomenal genuinely

phenomenal I've not seen anything of

that resolution this will allow

scientists historians to to

re-understand how the Titanic came to be

Motors and it's also it's a snapshot in

time

the Titanic was scanned last summer

submersibles were deployed remotely

controlled from the ship they traveled

the length and breadth of the wreck back

and forth

700 000 images were taken from every

angle to build up an exact 3D

reconstruction

the wreck is in two parts the bow is

still instantly recognizable more than

100 years after it sank

800 meters away the stern though is a

chaotic mess of metal it collapsed as it

corkscrewed into the sea floor

in the surrounding debris field items

are scattered or Nate's metal work

unopened champagne bottles and personal

possessions too dozens of shoes resting

on the sediment

despite how extensively the Titanic has

been explored there are still many

fundamental questions the hope is this

scan could provide answers we really

don't understand the character of the

collision with the iceberg we don't even

know if she hit it along the starboard

side as shown in all the movies she

might have grounded on the iceberg and

his photogrammetry model is one of the

first major steps to driving the Titanic

Story toward evidence-based research and

not speculation the sea is

n't its toll on the wreck microbes are

eating away at it and pots are

disintegrating

time is running out to find out what

happened on that April night in 1912

where more than a thousand lives were

lost

but the scan now freezes the wreck in

time and allows experts to pour over

every minute detail

the hope is Titanic May yet give up its

Secrets Rebecca morale BBC News

it's amazing isn't it absolutely

incredible to see it and we're delighted

to say we joined now in the studio by

Anthony Geffen who's the chief executive

creative director of Atlantic

Productions one of the firms behind this

project I bet you still can't quite

believe it when you see it on the screen

like we have this morning it's no I mean

this is the first time it's been

revealed and it's been a long time

coming a huge amount of work but it's

it's amazing to actually see it now and

the detail the details is phenomenal I

mean they've literally captured one to

one resolution on a digital twin which

is pretty extraordinary

tell what can we see that we haven't

seen before well I first went to the

Titanic about five years ago on an

expedition because nobody had been to

the Titanic over 14 years and what we

were looking at is what's the state of

the Titanic and it was extraordinary and

Titanic just captures you in a way so

what I really wanted to do was to be

able to go back and break new ground to

actually capture the Titanic in a way

that we could properly use science to

look at what happened on that fateful

night

and we met up with deep water

Specialists Magellan and they mounted a

extraordinary expedition to the Titanic

to capture literally every river every

detail using scanning and other

technology and that gives us

I mean what I never dreamed we'd have an

ability to literally look around the

site to find out what happened or we

will find out because of Journey's

beginning now

to find out what happened on that

faithful night but also the details of

the personal stories you know we can

actually tell from the wreck we can see

personal details and tell personal

stories which is really important isn't

it because I think sometimes we get

fascinated obsessed with with the

structure of the understandably

phenomenal achievement to to build and

then lose but it was it's all about the

people it is all about the people and um

I mean you know just a couple of

examples of what the scientists are

already coming and what's coming out of

the wreck we can we can go to

um Boiler Room one and park Stevenson

the one of the Titanic experts has

worked out that when it actually

imploded at the top of the boiler room

and so it was a light when it into the

water so we now know that that Boiler

Room was the boiler room and who's in it

who were keeping the lights on that

allowed so many people to escape the

Titanic what a personal you know what

personal moment that is and then because

that's always been a mystery isn't it

it's always been a mystery as to what

happened and then another mystery is

people like Officer Murdoch who's always

been accused of not launching the last

Lifeboat but if you actually go to there

you find a tiny little David which is

still we're still blocking where the

Lifeboat should have launched so we now

know that in fact he was trying to

launch it I mean this is just the

beginning of so many and then there's

the debris field this area of about

three miles wide where when the boat

went down a lot of it's the belongings

of people Spilled Out Over the Ocean and

we're using artificial intelligence of

faces and other details of each

passenger to actually say who is is that

watch you know whose is that Megalodon

uh necklace that we found on the bottom

of the ocean and that I think brings the

it brings it back to life I mean you

know it's 111 years ago but it's it's

bringing it back to now and I think

allowing people to go on a journey today

you just said you found a necklace at

the bottom of the ocean

it's not that one is it no it's not we

haven't yet father but you know you've

got to understand this is masses of data

and we're only just the experts are only

just beginning to to find you know extra

detail we found a a cherub that was

inside uh inside the main uh staircase

area I mean all these details in a day

by day are coming out and one of the

things you said earlier is you said

we're going to find out what happened

and you've given us some of the personal

stories don't we kind of know what

happened we had parks on the program

earlier on this morning and he gave us

his theory do we really know what

happened okay what what's happened isn't

you know great explorers have been down

to the titanium Ballard and Cameron and

others but actually they went with very

low resolution cameras and they could

only speculate on what happened we now

have every rivet of the Titanic every

detail we can put it back together so

for the first time we can actually see

what happened and we can use real

science to find out what happened now I

didn't think that was ever going to be

possible uh but it is and it's now been

captured so it's very exciting and it

will take a long time to go through all

those details but literally week by week

there are new findings so we never knew

existed in 2012 for the Centenary of

Titanic um I went to the wreck site for

for breakfast on a ship and we went we

didn't go down but we just stayed on the

surface of the water and on board that

cruise ship were hundreds of families

who's whose ancestors were on board

Titanic and and many of them perished

and I know that some of them are a

little worried about the intrusion the

diving they think it should be left as a

as a grave site on the bottom of the

water well what do you say to people who

think that this is a little intrusive

well we should just leave it with all

our projects we've involved um family

members of survivors and all we can say

is that a large number want to know what

happened and don't forget this is

totally non-intrusive this is you know

none of this technology ever touches the

Titanic or goes anywhere near the

Titanic so it's not intrusive the bodies

are long gone uh because of the

conditions down there

um and I I think you know I would hope

the majority would want to want to find

this out but it's very important that

whatever we do and we're doing it we're

doing conjunction with the families of

the survivors

Anthony it has been fascinating to talk

to you and to see those images this

morning you know it's one of those

things isn't it you think you know what

happened we actually don't know at all

do we finding out so much more yeah and

I think we know I love the fact that we

will be able to in the future not just

making a film about it obviously you

know you all of us will be able to walk

using you know we'll be able to walk

among the wreckage of the Titanic and I

think that's pretty extraordinary really

and a new way of experiencing history

okay Anthony thank you so much for

sharing those with us this morning for

coming in really appreciate it thank you

thank you