Elon Musk has an idea for saving boys stranded in a Thailand cave

Elon Musk is sending a team of engineers to Thailand to see if they can help authorities racing to save a dozen boys and their coach who are stranded in a cave there.

"SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt," Musk tweeted just after midnight, California time, on Thursday night. "There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person."

"Boring Co has advanced ground penetrating radar & is pretty good at digging holes," Musk wrote in an earlier tweet on Thursday.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, are members of a local soccer team who were on a field trip with a coach. Heavy rains stranded them in the cave two weeks ago. Their disappearance sparked a massive search-and-rescue operation that managed to locate the group nine days after their disappearance.

But this discovery didn't mean the boys were out of danger. Continued rains could flood the part of the cave where they're stranded. And even if that doesn't happen, it could be months before the water drops enough for the boys to walk out. In their current situation, keeping the boys supplied with food and medical care is hazardous—one Thai navy diver has died ferrying oxygen tanks into the cave.

Another option would be to give the boys scuba gear and have them swim out. But some of the boys can't swim, and the narrow, winding cave and long distances—around 5km—is a big challenge for even the most experienced divers.

Musk spent Thursday evening brainstorming about ways to help the boys and suggested another approach:



James Yenbamroong @jamesWorldSpace
· 5 Jul
Replying to @elonmusk

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

Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk

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.
1:29 AM - Jul 6, 2018

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Musk was responding to a tweet by James Yenbamroong, an American-educated aerospace engineer who moved back to his native Thailand to start a satellite startup called mu Space Corp. He provided this image to illustrate the boys' predicament:
Attachment 11895
"The critical 70cm cross section area has 15m in length," Yenbamroong tweeted, noting that this section is "2km away from entrance where pumps should be."

Musk elaborated on his plan in subsequent tweets:


My cats' butler 🌊 @Ladykayaker
· 10h
Replying to @elonmusk @jamesWorldSpace

It's a 5 hour swim to get there.

Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk

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.
1:41 AM - Jul 6, 2018

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chiefpad @Chiefpad
· 10h
Replying to @elonmusk @jamesWorldSpace

You would need an airlock at both ends

Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk

Have a small velcro slit entrance & exit in circumferential direction (half stress of longitudinal direction)
2:09 AM - Jul 6, 2018

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Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk
· 9h
Replying to @Chiefpad @jamesWorldSpace

Have a small velcro slit entrance & exit in circumferential direction (half stress of longitudinal direction)

Elon Musk
✔
@elonmusk

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.
2:13 AM - Jul 6, 2018

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Correction: I misidentified the nationality of the diver who died helping the boys. He was Thai.