Australian electric vehicle charging company and Brisban-based solar racing car business, Tritium, have involved themselves in James Cameron’s deep-sea expedition.
The two companies were among the team that helped design and manufacture the submarine used in the famous director’s deepest solo dive in history– 11 kilometers below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.. The information, under wraps until now, has been released in time for the Sydney premier of the film on 8th August.
James Kennedy, Engineering Director at Tritium, said they were employed to play key role using specialist knowledge on battery management systems.
Originally, the company received a call out of the blue to help solve a battery management system problem on a secretive project. This eventually saw Kennedy spend four months as an integral part of the crew on Cameron’s dive into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The director, know for films such as Terminator, Aliens, Titanic and Avatar, assembled a team of innovative thinkers to help design and build an eight meter-long submersible that would descend below the surface to discover what Cameron described as “the last great frontier on earth”.
“The call came just a few weeks before the submarine was due in the water,” explains Kennedy.
“The team had hit a problem with the battery management system and Tritium had been recommended … because of our specialist knowledge and the bespoke work we’ve carried out … providing Solar Racing powertrain solutions to teams around the world.”
“These solar projects actually had a great similarity to the Deep-Sea Challenge scenario in that you are going into an extremely difficult environment, with major technology risks, and once the attempt is underway, your only support is what you have with you. The whole of the sub was electric, so if the battery management system failed, then nothing would work and James’ life would be at risk.”
“Deepsea Challenge was designed and built in Australia by a remarkable team of people and I am enormously proud to have played a small part in its success.”
Deepsea Challenge 3D goes on general release in Australian cinemas on the 21st of August and documents the director’s often-harrowing journey to make the deepest solo dive in history, an expedition that included several false starts, rough seas and the tragic loss of two crew members in a helicopter accident.
