Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] escape question

Wasn't there a design for a solid rocket propellant that worked well for short bursts of emergency propulsion in UWV's?

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 12:31 PM

Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] escape question

My current design is intended to only operate 0'-160', but sustain 320' ... "stuff" happens, but considering that the wager is my life I want to hedge every bet I can. FWIW, in an attempt to indulge my proactive paranoia about the possibility of being stuck below practical SCUBA range, I'm incorporating:

Jetisonable hard ballasts

Hull-mounted salvage tubes with dedicated high-pressure air supply (also used for salvage/recovery missions)

Fully jetisonable pressure hull externals (nothin' but hull)

Tethered emergency buoy

At this point, if I *still* can't get off the bottom or get unstuck or [fill in the worst case nightmare of your own making], I'm integrating an emergency egress module. Essentially a glorified rebreather. I'll be prone, so the heavily reinforced upper portion of the cylindrical pressure hull forms an egress hatch for the backpack-like (lower-head to mid thigh) egress module. Between the outer hatch and the straps holding me to it will be a buoyancy compensator and a modified rebreather with a dedicated air supply. In order to minimize excessive redundancy, I'm also using the rebreather monitoring and regulatory functions for the primary air supply. The modified dive computer disconnects from the hull's primary sensors and switches to dedicated rebreather functions, and most of the sub's control circuitry also comes with me. Given the net scenario posed, theoretically, I *could* use the egress module to return to the stuck sub with tools to extricate it, but the thought is currently less than comfortable. No matter what, it means I have to dramatically upgrade my current dive certification.

*****

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."

-- Auguries of Innocence, William Blake, ca 1803