A Titanic Task

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SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (Achieve3000, October 5, 2012). For years, the story of the Titanic has captured the imagination of people around the world. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic set off on its first voyage. The ship left England and headed for New York City. On the way, the Titanic struck an iceberg. The passenger ship was supposed to be unsinkable. But it plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The wreckage was found in 1985. Then, scientists began to piece together the story of the enormous ship and its sinking. Now, they are filling in more holes, thanks to the first map of the entire Titanic wreck site. Experts say the new map will give them new information about the 100-year-old accident. The mapping expedition got underway in 2010. That's when a team of scientists traveled to the Titanic's final resting place in the ocean. The scientists captured detailed pictures of the wreck site. They used state-of-the-art technology. To collect the pictures, the expedition team used two self-controlled robots. The robots examined the wreck site day and night. The robots moved slowly. They traveled back and forth along the ocean bottom. The robots captured more than 100,000 photos. Scientists later pieced the photos together. They created a complete map. They did this using computers. The map shows hundreds of bits and pieces from the ship. They include part of a deckhouse and a 60-foot-long piece of the side of the ship. Scientists tried to map the wreck site in the past. However, the new map is the first of its kind. Earlier maps of the floor around the wreckage were not complete. They did not show areas very far away from the ship. "Nothing like this has ever been done for the Titanic site," said Parks Stephenson. Stephenson is a Titanic expert. Charlie Pellegrino is a Titanic explorer. Pellegrino said this is the first time a map of the ship has looked

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