Elon Musk Is Sending Engineers To Help Rescue Boys Trapped in Thai Cave
The billionaire tycoon sent engineers from SpaceX and The Boring Company to rescue the trapped youth soccer team—this is how they plan to do it.
Elon Musk has shifted his focus from flamethrowers and Teslas to a humanitarian rescue mission.
The billionaire entrepreneur has become involved in the race to save a team of 12 young soccer players and their coach from the bowels of a waterlogged cave in northern Thailand.
After a lengthy Twitter exchange with James Yenbamroong, a Bangkok-based tech mogul who facilitated contact with the Thai government, Musk tweeted that engineers from Space X and The Boring Company are en route to aid in the rescue efforts.
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
“SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt,” Musk wrote. “There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person.”
Musk first posed possible methods to reach the trapped party after a fan reached out to him on Twitter. Yenbamroong joined the conversation soon thereafter.
I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control, but I’m happy to help if there is a way to do so
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2018
Boring Co has advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes. Don’t know if pump rate is limited by electric power or pumps are too smal. If so, could dropship fully charged Powerpacks and pumps.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2018
SpaceX team reached out to us today to help connect to Thai govt. Our team connected and provided some prep feedback to your team. For pumps, cave has narrowest 70cm cross section and about 5km to 13 guys. For vertical drill, it’s about 1/2 mile down and tricky
— James Yenbamroong (@JamesWorldSpace) July 5, 2018
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
Other Twitter users chimed in to offer advice and point out potential obstacles.
You would need an airlock at both ends
— Paul Holt (@chiefpad) July 6, 2018
Have a small velcro slit entrance & exit in circumferential direction (half stress of longitudinal direction)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
If you build the exit like this NASA MESH airlock, put zipper along one of the lines, the stress on the zipper is essentially zero. Like a Mylar birthday balloon along one of the wrinkles. I can hook you up with my coworkers working on this at NASA Langley. They have prototypes. pic.twitter.com/1d3PmkOhWO
— Robotbeat🗽 ➐ (@Robotbeat) July 6, 2018
So long as air feed rate exceeds leak rate, tube remains inflated. This is how bouncy castles or inflatable mazes work. Needs very little power as the work (physics def of work) done is low. Pumping out water faster than it enters the cave system is prob 10X to 1000X more power.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
It's a 5 hour swim to get there.
— My cats' butler (@ladykayaker) July 6, 2018
Walking speed is around 5km/h, but if you’re in an air tube, time doesn’t matter much. If tube diameter was 1.5m, a fast walk of 5km would take 40 mins or so. Just need to duck for the narrow sections.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
Yenbamroong responded to Musk with further information, including a photo and diagram of the cave.
Good idea. Looking into cross sections and lengths of each section. The critical 70cm cross section area has 15m in length. And we believe 2km away from entrance where pumps should be. pic.twitter.com/RxmrBfpFgG
— James Yenbamroong (@JamesWorldSpace) July 6, 2018
This image makes it simple. Critical 70cm area is at the center. Several dives and two rest areas in between before getting to strong 13 Thais. You probably need several inserts if going with air funnel solution pic.twitter.com/1Pz6vd7U4N
— James Yenbamroong (@JamesWorldSpace) July 6, 2018
Looks like 1st bit of water is close enough to entrance to be pumped out. 2nd & 3rd would need battery packs, air pumps & tubes. If depth of 2nd is accurate, would need ~0.5 bar tube pressure. Prob need to enter tube, zip up & then transit.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018
The complexities noted by Musk have created a dire situation that’s pitted rescuers against the clock.
CNN has up-to-date details:
The boys, members of a youth football team, and their coach have been trapped in the labyrinthine cave at the Tham Luang Nang Non complex for nearly two weeks, unable to navigate their way out of a series of narrow passages after floodwaters forced them to take shelter on a rocky ledge.
Officials initially thought they could keep the boys and their coach in the cave where they are trapped for up to four months, until waters dropped sufficiently for them to be able to walk out.
But the death of a rescue team member, and the realization that oxygen levels have fallen to potentially dangerous levels, appears to have forced a reassessment of the situation.
The deceased rescue team member is former Sgt. Saman Kunan, an ex-Thai Navy SEAL. USA Today reports that the 38-year-old triathlete died while placing oxygen tanks along the underwater route leading to the stranded boys.
“fellow trail runner and former Thai Navy SEAL, Saman Kunan, passed away this morning while in Chiang Rai helping the rescue efforts at #Thamluangcave” ☹️
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Run In Paradise good sir! pic.twitter.com/xjEJ7X2ptJ— J🎧G (@JAGLanante) July 6, 2018
Hopefully this story has a happy ending.