MONTREAL: Organizers delayed until later Monday a high-tech expedition that aims to create a detailed map of the wreckage of the Titanic, nearly a hundred years after the fabled ship sank in the Atlantic.

Postponed by one day, the mission is now readying to leave at 2230 GMT Monday "after some final equipment tests," the mission`s Twitter site said.

The expedition plans to use sonar technology and high-resolution optical video and imaging to document the wreck site, in the most technologically advanced scientific expedition to the Titanic ever mounted, organizers said.

Christopher Davino, president of RMS Titanic, said in a statement that the goal is to "create the most detailed portrait of Titanic`s wreck site to date."

The team of experts, he said, "will be using some of the most advanced technology available to create a portrait of the ship unlike any that has been created before -- virtually raising Titanic and sealing her current state forever in the minds and hearts of humanity."

The mission sets out from St John`s, Newfoundland, and will provide real-time video and photo updates on Facebook and Twitter during a more than 20-day expedition.

Other images and information will be found on the mission`s website, www.expeditiontitanic.com.

The Titanic, a luxury passenger ship once thought to be unsinkable, hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank in the early morning of April 15, 1912, killing 1,500 people.

After decades of searching, the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 some four kilometers (2.5 miles) beneath the surface of the sea.

BDST: 03:40 HRS, August 24, 2010