They did. That sub had several previous trips to test and with other passengers before they took the rich people. However because of the composite hull, you had a buildup of damage internally and it only collapsed on the rich guy run. And they buildup of damage was exactly what experts warned about.

[–] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

At least the timing was lucky. Now we just need to crowdfund making enough identical ones for all 3.4k billionaires in the world to take the trip a few times.

Wouldn't be anywhere near as expensive as letting them continue to hoard all the money and other resources.