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Fénix capsules

three metallic containers

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ349063
Source-derived summary

The Fénix capsules were three metallic containers that were used for the rescue of 33 trapped miners after the 2010 Copiapó mining accident, and are an enhanced version of the Dahlbusch Bomb. The capsules were constructed by Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada (ASMAR), (Navy Shipyards and Armories), who named it Fénix (Phoenix).

Description

The Fénix capsules were designed by the Chilean Navy, in collaboration with the United States space agency NASA. They have a diameter of 54 centimetres (21 in), and have eight wheels located on the top and the bottom, with a damping system for mobility in the pipeline. The Fénix capsules have a harness to hold the occupant, an oxygen supply, and a microphone with speakers, which were used to connect the miners with the rescuers at the surface during the rescue.

Officially, three prototypes of the capsule were created. The Fénix 1 had a larger diameter than the other two capsules and was used in tests in the shaft created by the Schramm Inc. T-130 drill, where it descended to a depth of 610 metres (2,000 ft). Fénix 2 was operated with an Austrian pulley system and was used throughout the rescue of the miners. Fénix 3 was held in reserve and not used. The Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Navy, Admiral Edmundo González Robles said that ASMAR had also constructed a fourth capsule, that was not taken to Copiapó, and that the Fénix capsules were going to be patented.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Fénix capsules” as three metallic containers. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2010—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Fénix, capsules and three can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as three metallic containers. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q349063. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Fénix capsules primary sources, Fénix capsules archive and Fénix research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Fénix capsules” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.