--- title: "Amazing 3D Scan Shows the Titanic If All the Water Was Drained Out" description: "A new 3D scan of the Titanic shows the tragic scene at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean in unprecedented detail." date: "2023-05-17" modified: "2023-05-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-scan-titanic" categories: - "3D Printing" - "Future Materials" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "disasters" - "the digest" - "titanic" - "wreckage" --- # Amazing 3D Scan Shows the Titanic If All the Water Was Drained Out ![A new 3D scan of the Titanic shows the tragic scene at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean in unprecedented detail.]() *\Image: Magellan/Atlantic Productions\* ## Mysterious New 3D scans of the Titanic just dropped — and dear reader, they're absolutely incredible. As the [*BBC* reports](), these mind-blowing scans are the first of their kind and show in amazing detail how the entire wreck, which sunk 111 years ago, would look if the whole thing were to be miraculously moved to dry land. In spite of the amount of time and study that's occurred since the luxury ocean liner sank in 1912, experts still disagree on key details — lingering gaps in our knowledge that these 3D scans may hopefully help answer. "There are still questions, basic questions, that need to be answered about the ship," Parks Stephenson, executive director of the USS Kidd Veterans Museum, who has worked with "Titanic" director James Cameron extensively, told the *BBC*. The project, which was carried out last summer, is "one of the first major steps to driving the Titanic story towards evidence-based research — and not speculation," he added. https://twitter.com/ticiaverveer/status/1658735807220334594 ## Close-Up Deep sea-mapping company Magellan Ltd. teamed up with documentary maker Atlantic Productions to collect the extensive scans using remote-controlled submersible cameras. The robotic cameras spent a total of more than 200 hours surveying the wreckage that sits at the bottom of the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The result was a whopping 700,000 images for the project, the *BBC* reports, which the researchers stitched together to reconstruct the detailed 3D model. "The depth of it, almost 4,000 \[meters\], represents a challenge," Gerhard Seiffert, the Magellan data manager who led the expedition, told the *BBC*, "and you have currents at the site, too — and we're not allowed to touch anything so as not to damage the wreck." Stephenson told the British broadcaster that he was "blown away" when he saw the scans, which go into such minute detail as to show a serial number on one of the propellers. "It allows you to see the wreck as you can never see it from a submersible, and you can see the wreck in its entirety, you can see it in context and perspective," he told the *BBC.* "And what it's showing you now is the true state of the wreck." More than a century later, the Titanic remains one of the ocean's most iconic disaster sites — and these scans let us see it in closer detail than ever before. https://twitter.com/BBCMorelle/status/1658768797270958081 **More on the world under the sea:** [*Scientists Discover Leak in the Bottom of the Ocean*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()