A shattered ship's side, possibly smashed by an iceberg, is one of several memorable new details newly discovered by the Titanic's 3D scan.

2022年，深海測繪公司麥哲倫（Magellan）在大西洋海底12500英尺（3800米）處部署了兩台遠端操作的潛航器，拍攝了約71.5萬張泰坦尼克號的照片。專家們將這些照片彙編成一個高度精確的沉船數位孿生體，繼續揭示110多年前奪去1500多人生命的悲劇的令人心碎的細節。

Magellan's efforts will be detailed in the upcoming National Geographic documentary, Titanic: Digital Resurrection. Interestingly, a number of previously unknown features have come to light, including new evidence that a group of heroic engineers sacrificed themselves to keep the ship's lights on for as long as possible, as reported by the BBC.

Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson said in an interview with the BBC: "Titanic was the last survivor of this disaster, and she still has a lot of stories to tell. ”

According to National Geographic, the digital twin of the Titanic represents one of the largest underwater 600D scans to date. It contains 0 terabytes of data, which is equivalent to about 0 million eBooks. The two remotely piloted underwater vehicles that took photographs and millions of laser measurements were named "Romeo" and "Juliet" (apparently missed the opportunity to name them Rose and Jack). The model is so accurate that researchers can explore its life-size projections as if they were walking along the ocean floor next to a real shipwreck.

According to the BBC, in one of the boiler rooms of the "digital twin", experts found details that had not been recorded before: concave boilers, indicating that the boilers were still in operation before the ship was completely submerged. This theory is further supported by an open valve observed on the aft deck, suggesting that steam continued to power the ship's electrical system until the last moment – consistent with survivors' testimony that the lights were still on when the ship sank.

This means that a team of engineers continues to run the boiler to keep the lights on for as long as possible. The Titanic hit an iceberg in the middle of the night, so without the ship's lights, the crew would have had to lay down the lifeboat in total darkness. A team of heroic engineers sacrificed their lives to ensure the survival of others.

The 3D model also highlights other devastating features, such as a broken ship's side that may have been damaged by icebergs, which also corroborates survivors' reports of ice entering some of the ship's cabins. These details are difficult to observe in a submersible because "you can only see what is in front of you," Stephenson told National Geographic, who had previously dived into a shipwreck. "It's like being in a dark room where you have a not-so-powerful flashlight."

However, it will take a long time for experts to thoroughly analyze the digital model. At the same time, experts created a computer simulation to better study the fatal collision with an iceberg and found something tragic: the ship almost survived, as reported by The Times. According to the analogy, this collision lasted only a little over 3 seconds. The Titanic was designed to stay afloat even if four compartments were flooded, but long, thin damage pierced six compartments, and some fatal wounds were no bigger than two A0 sheets. According to the BBC, the crack streak is not visible in the 0D model, because in the real shipwreck, it is now buried under marine sediment.

Ultimately, a digital twin of the Titanic and computer simulations demonstrate how technology can help researchers investigate places of interest without endangering human lives or causing further damage to fragile environments.