A manned Chinese submersible conducted its first dive to beyond 4,000m yesterday, the government said, in the latest milestone for the country’s deep-sea ambitions.
The Jiaolong undersea craft — named after a mythical sea dragon — reached 4,027m with three people onboard during the dive in the northern Pacific Ocean, China’s State Oceanic Administration said in a statement.
“The success of this test dive has laid a solid foundation for completing the mission of diving to 5,000m,” it said. The craft will attempt to surpass 5,000m in another dive today.
Chinese technical capability has grown in leaps and bounds in recent decades, exemplified by a fast-growing space program that in 2005 made China the third nation to conduct manned space flight.
The Jiaolong’s undersea range theoretically gives China access to nearly all of the world’s deep-sea areas, Chinese officials have said.
The craft is designed to reach a maximum depth of 7,000m and in a dive last year it made China only the fifth country to go deeper than the 3,500m mark, according to previous Chinese reports.
The deepest dive ever conducted was by the US Navy, which reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench — the deepest point in the world’s oceans at 11,000m — in 1960 in a manned undersea craft.
China has said its development of submersible technology is aimed at scientific research and the peaceful exploration and use of natural resources.
The country has pushed hard in recent years to obtain oil, mineral and other natural resources needed to fuel its growth.
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