What To Know: The Titanic, the largest passenger ship of its time, sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg. Over 1,500 died as the ship sunk. The Titanic now rests over 2 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic, about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The shipwreck was discovered in 1985, but due to low light and murky water, research has been limited and the disaster has been left largely a mystery.

Why It Matters: The recent project took 715,000 photos and a high-resolution video last summer in order to map "every millimeter" of the wreckage and its surrounding three-mile field of debris. The model of the Titanic, which took 8 months to create, is "one of the first major steps to driving the Titanic towards evidence-based research - and not just speculation," according to Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson. Because the ship is slowly being eaten away by microbes and disintegrating beneath the sea, this project enables further research before it is too late.

Examples of "extraordinary detail": Pictures indicate one of the lifeboats could not be deployed because it was blocked by a jammed piece of metal. A serial number on one of the ship's propellers can be made out in other photos. Additionally, unique personal artifacts like unopened champagne bottles, watches, and top hats were found among the debris.

Titanic: First ever full-sized scans reveal wreck as never seen before (BBC)

‘Digital Twin’ of the Titanic Shows the Shipwreck in Stunning Detail (NYT)