[HN Gopher] A Giant Ball Will Help This Man Survive a Year on an...
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A Giant Ball Will Help This Man Survive a Year on an Iceberg
Author : areoform
Score : 22 points
Date : 2025-12-13 15:25 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.outsideonline.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.outsideonline.com)
| I_dream_of_Geni wrote:
| "The capsule is strong enough to survive a storm at sea or
| getting crushed between two icebergs."
|
| The first part is probably true. The second part is folly.
| "Remember the Titanic".
| danielbln wrote:
| The Titanic wasn't crushed, it was sliced, wasn't it?
| vineyardmike wrote:
| The titanic was advertised as _unsinkable_ and we know its
| history.
|
| Advertising this capsule as _uncrushable_ is a commensurate
| gamble.
| margalabargala wrote:
| Just make it out of carbon fiber. That's what they did with
| that uncrushable submersible that went to the Titanic.
| monster_truck wrote:
| Christ this website is terrible. Blogspam to the core, scrolling
| even a little bit changes the url to random other articles on
| their site
| smelendez wrote:
| Yeah it's frustrating how many legitimate media outlets have
| made their websites basically unreadable.
| antonvs wrote:
| *how many _once_ -legitimate media outlets...
| rendall wrote:
| ...By clicking "Accept All Cookies" you consent to the setting
| of these cookies and technologies. By clicking "Decline All
| Cookies" you decline all non-necessary cookies and similar
| technologies... [Accept All Cookies]
|
| There was no [Decline All Cookies] button at all. Why even
| bother with the pretense of a consent warning?
| croisillon wrote:
| techcrunch does the url change too
| recursivecaveat wrote:
| So when the flip starts you basically have a few seconds to strap
| in before getting tossed around the capsule as it tumbles down
| the side of the berg right? Even if you are strapped in I feel
| like surely you're going to come out very concussed at the least.
| waldothedog wrote:
| Not saying it's full-proof but I believe it is a cage inside a
| ball w rollers so that the outside spins while the inside is at
| least somewhat stable. Nonetheless, they do mention that a full
| inversion is a worst case scenario due to the suddenness
| waldothedog wrote:
| Foolproof*
| yesitcan wrote:
| Fulpruf*
| onraglanroad wrote:
| That is what I was thinking. Are you also strapped down for the
| toilet? It's going to be messy when it flips while you're
| evacuating your bowels.
|
| And, overall, it seems incredibly pointless! If you have a
| survival ball like this, why not just let it float? Why put it
| on a dangerously unstable surface?
| pstuart wrote:
| > Why put it on a dangerously unstable surface?
|
| I think that's the whole point? No "normal" person would
| think doing this is a good idea -- he wants the thrill of the
| ride with a minimum of recklessness.
|
| You couldn't pay me enough to do this.
| chis wrote:
| His idea seems to be to detect the approximate timing of a flip
| or roll with sensors and then strap in and wait for it to
| happen. I have some serious concerns though lol. I mean if the
| ball rolled off a cliff on the iceberg and fell into the water
| I'm pretty sure it would be like trying to survive a crash at
| terminal velocity, and I doubt the racing chair would handle
| it.
| tomasphan wrote:
| No it's a self righting interior. Read the article.
| bmitch3020 wrote:
| Missing from the article is any details on ventilation. You need
| fresh air to survive, which means non-water tight holes will be
| somewhere on that thing. Normally on a boat, they would be on the
| part that's above water. On a spinning ball, that wouldn't be an
| option.
|
| My best guess is that it will be integrated in the center tube.
| Buoyancy ensures the center of the ball is usually above water,
| and one end of the tube would always be above water.
| tokai wrote:
| You only need to get rid of CO2. There would be oxygen enough
| in the sphere for quite some time.
| imglorp wrote:
| Yes, so now you're talking CO2 scrubbers, air monitoring, O2
| replacement, cabin pressure management, and reliable power to
| keep all this life support running. It's basically a
| submarine at that point, all for $20k per pod? I'm skeptical
| this is practical.
| RealityVoid wrote:
| > The survivors, including Nobile, spent a month wandering the
| free-floating pack ice, at one point shooting and eating a polar
| bear, until their rescue
|
| This sounds like something Jules Verne could have written. In
| fact I seem to remember this exact plot device in a book a read
| when I was a teenager, but the name escapes me.
| Xylakant wrote:
| I'm amazed by the idea that providing escape capsules would have
| saved many lives. The Christmas tsunami caused about 230 000
| fatalities in a densely populated area. People didn't even get to
| higher ground. Where are you going to store the hundreds of
| thousands capsules that you'd need to even make a dent in that
| number. And how will people get into those capsules within
| minutes of the warning?
| imglorp wrote:
| And who is going to find all those capsuled people and rescue
| them? Rescuers will be swamped with hundreds of thousands of
| non-capsuled people who should logically take priority.
| Depending on how these things float, if they get swept out to
| sea, you might need a ship with a crane to lift the capsule
| aboard. Does it float nicely with the hatch open or do you have
| to stay sealed up to stay afloat? Can you float with air ports
| open or do all of you have to stay breathing that scuba tank in
| the photo; how long will that last? What will many --
| thousands? -- of EPIRBs all going off at once do to the SAR
| system?
| croisillon wrote:
| there is only one way to find out
| praptak wrote:
| Stability of icebergs is tricky. They don't "become" top heavy as
| the article states, they are constantly top heavy.
|
| The center of mass of the iceberg is above the center of buoyancy
| 100% of the time. What prevents the flip is a flat base which
| hopefully counters the small tilts by moving the center of
| buoyancy in the same direction as the center of mass.
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(page generated 2025-12-13 23:00 UTC)