China’s Jiaolong Step Closer to Setting New Diving Record

China’s manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong arrived to Mariana Trench on Monday morning. There it will attempt to set a new diving record of a 7,000-meter dive, reported Xinhuanet.

The deep-sea submersible will dive six times. During the first dive the divers will try to reach a depth of over 5,000 meters, but less than 6,200 meters. During the fifth and sixth dives they will try to reach the depth of 7,000 meters.

Divers in the submersible will test various functions and performances at great depths.

For safety reasons the dives will be conducted during daylight under no-more-than-four-class wind and no-more-than-three wave, and will last for eight to twelve hours.

Commander Liu Feng on the Xiangyanghong 09, the mother oceanographic ship of the submersible stated: “Before the formal sea dives, a comprehensive review of the submersible as well as its support system will be taken.”

Last year in July, the Jiaolong succeeded in diving 5,188 meters which enabled China to conduct scientific survey in about 70% of the world’s seabed areas.

[mappress]
Subsea World News Staff, June 11, 2012