Thai official: Elon Musk’s submarine “not practical for this mission”

Ars Technica » Scientific Method 2018-07-10

Enlarge / Elon Musk posted this photo of the cave to his Twitter feed. (credit: Elon Musk)

On Tuesday, divers in Thailand completed the rescue of all 12 boys and their coach trapped in a flooded cave. And they did it without the aid of a tiny "submarine" that Elon Musk developed for possible use in the rescue mission.

Musk had a team of SpaceX engineers working feverishly over the weekend to construct the device. Thai officials began the rescue operation before Musk's team had completed his work. But Musk decided to complete the device anyway and personally flew to Thailand to deliver it to the rescue site.

According to The Guardian, when Musk arrived with his device, Thai officials made it clear that it wasn't needed. "Although his technology is good and sophisticated it’s not practical for this mission," said Narongsak Osatanakorn, the head of the joint command center coordinating the rescue effort. At that point, Thai officials had already finished rescuing at least eight of the 12 boys, and were already planning the third and final rescue mission.

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