Thai Cave Rescue Underway and It Seems Rescuers Didn’t End Up Using Elon Musk’s Iron Man-Like Plan

The nailbiting situation in Thailand has reached its breaking point. A rescue mission to retrieve 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been trapped in a cave for two weeks is underway as divers already pulled out several children.

The mission united countries around the world and even billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk put on his superhero cape to get in on the rescue.

Musk sent several lead engineers from his companies Tesla, Space X and The Boring Company to Thailand to help with the rescue effort. What they brought with them is their expertise in addition to a device that could have shuttled the children out of the cave – a “tiny, kid-size submarine.”

Got more great feedback from Thailand. Primary path is basically a tiny, kid-size submarine using the liquid oxygen transfer tube of Falcon rocket as hull. Light enough to be carried by 2 divers, small enough to get through narrow gaps. Extremely robust.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018

We all live in a tiny submarine

Since initially offering to help rescue the team on Wednesday, Musk flirted with several outside the box solutions, including sending in an inflatable nylon tube, the Thai rescue operation ended up going with the most reliable operation – to send in a team of expert divers.

Some good feedback from cave experts in Thailand. Iterating with them on an escape pod design that might be safe enough to try. Also building an inflatable tube with airlocks. Less likely to work, given tricky contours, but great if it does.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018

Could Musk’s plan have worked?

While a submarine sounds like something Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man might have dreamed up, it really could have worked, according to Edgar Choueiri, a professor at Princeton University interviewed by The New York Times.

“I would never bet against Elon Musk,” Choueiri said.

Still, there were detractors who said the sub won’t be small enough and there just isn’t enough time to wait and see as the team runs out of oxygen. Still, it’s possible that Musk’s engineers helped in some way.

Even still, what an incredible act of kindness by Musk for trying.