As you might have heard, there is a situation over in Thailand in which 12 young boys and their soccer coach have been trapped inside one of the country’s caves for the past few weeks. Many have hailed it as a miracle that the entire group was found to be alive and relatively well, but then a new problem presented it: how to extract the group safely.
So far various countries have lent their experts to help with the situation, ranging from military to cave and diving experts, and now it looks like the rescue team has a new helping hand thanks to SpaceX and Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk. Musk recently tweeted that he has dispatched a team of SpaceX and Boring Co engineers over to Thailand to lend a hand.
SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
It is unclear as to how exactly these engineers will be able to help, but given that Musk’s companies handle some pretty hi-tech equipment and have been embarking on some out-there projects, perhaps they can lend a fresh perspective and maybe some tech that can help. One of Musk’s tweets reads, “Boring Co has advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes.”
He also tweeted back and forth with a Thai engineer about some possible solutions to the problem, but these are merely theoretical for now. The rescue efforts have been hampered by the fact that it is now the monsoon season in Thailand, which means that water levels are rising despite their attempts to pump out as much water as possible.
Maybe worth trying: insert a 1m diameter nylon tube (or shorter set of tubes for most difficult sections) through cave network & inflate with air like a bouncy castle. Should create an air tunnel underwater against cave roof & auto-conform to odd shapes like the 70cm hole.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
There is also the issue of how to get the boys and their coach out, where they would need to know how to swim and dive, which some of the rescuers are giving crash courses at the moment. The rescue efforts have also since claimed one life of one of the rescuers, a former Thai SEAL who is reported to have passed out during one of the dives possibly due to a lack of oxygen, and where attempts to resuscitate him have failed.
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