Titanic: New 3D scans 'rewrite everything we know' about ill-fated voyage

New full-scale Titanic images

Research scientists have mapped the Titanic in its entirety as part of the largest underwater 3D capture project ever.

More than 110 years after the ill-fated Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, science is helping to "completely rewrite everything we know about the tragedy."

Research scientists have digitally mapped the shipwreck in a groundbreaking underwater 3D capture project by Magellan and Atlantic Productions. The "digital twin" the scientists created shows stunning details never seen before.

"What it's showing you now is the true state of the wreck," Parks Stephenson told the BBC.

READ MORE: Rare, unseen video of Titanic wreckage released

The scans were taken during a six-week expedition in the summer of 2022. The expedition deployed two submersibles – named Romeo and Juliet – which spent countless hours at 12,500 feet below the surface. They mapped the entirety of the wreck and its 3-mile debris field in the North Atlantic Ocean.

"In accordance with tight regulations in place the wreck was not touched or disturbed, and the entire site treated with the utmost of respect, which included a flower laying ceremony in memory of those who lost their lives," researchers said in a news release.

The Titanic, the largest ship ever built at the time, sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City after hitting an iceberg in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. More than 1,500 people died.

Oceanographer Robert Ballard and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership with the Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, discovered the famed wreckage in 1985. There have been numerous expeditions to the site ever since. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.