|
|
May 29, 2005 Dear Scientists and Crew at sea, Hello. I am one of Miss Sheild's 7th grade students in Lexington, Massachusetts. My question is: Is there a weight limit of the three people allowed on Alvin? Thank you for your time. Beejul Khatri Hello to all in Lexington. The weight of people that Alvin can carry is limited by the vehicle’s overall payload, which is 1,500 lbs (675 kilograms). Payload is a combination of personel (3), ascent weights, ballast water and the science basket (equipment) load. All of these must add up to 1,500 lbs. The ascent weights are 416 lbs, the basket load this leg averages about 200 lbs and the ballast water normally between 175 and 300 lbs. So, for a dive where we have the maximum amount of ballast water (300 lbs) we could carry: (416 + 200 + 300) - 1500 = 584 Lbs of people (263 kilograms) From the calculation you can see we can increase the allowable weight of people by removing some of the ballast water. This is how we are able to carry assorted sized scientists and pilots. Thanks for the question J. Patrick Hickey My name is Alissa Welch and I am in 8th grade at Sussex Middle School in Sussex, New Jersey. My question is: What was the scariest thing that has happened in the sub Alvin? Hi Alissa, You've asked a question that we get quite often and as usual I find it a little tricky to answer. I have been very lucky, as I really haven't had anything 'scary' happen to me or to the sub while on a dive. Occasionally we'll lose power, or the sub may bump into the rough terrain, but nothing really frightening has happened during my dives. I think that most other pilots would say the same thing although I can relate a few experiences from the past. On one dive in particular, the sub's lower fiberglass skin came loose and began to scoop up the soft mud from the bottom. In a short time, the sub had scooped up 800 pounds (360 kilograms) of mud and abruptly came to a stop. The occupants knew right away that something unusual had happened. From that moment on the pilot, with the help of the surface folks on the Atlantis II, worked to find out what had happened and to make sure they would be able to safely ascend. Many hours later, after an extremely slow ascent, the sub made it home. It was then that they realized what had happened. We've since modified the sub's skins so that this cannot happen again. If you check the Internet, or you library, you can find a Discover magazine article (www.discover.com) from the past that was written about this event. Hopefully I will never have this happen, and can benefit from the experience of past pilots. Thanks for the question.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Mailing List | Feedback | Glossary | For Teachers | About Us | Contact
© 2010 Dive and Discover™. Dive and Discover™ is a registered trademark of
Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution
