‘Zhang Jian’ sails off for deep sea research
Print Edition
CHINA’S first oceanic research vessel “Zhang Jian” left for the New Britain Trench in the Pacific Ocean from Shanghai on its first official voyage yesterday morning.
The vessel is the mother ship of “Rainbow Fish,” a submersible capable of diving to 11,000 meters.
Zhang Jian is carrying 16 scientists from Tongji University, Shanghai Ocean University and Chinese Academy of Sciences, who will test the navigation abilities of the ship and its scientific equipment before it heads out on a more challenging voyage to the 11,000-meter-deep Mariana Trench at the end of year, said Fang Jiasong, chief scientist of the mission.
The deep-sea submersible Rainbow Fish will collect marine samples and survey the environment at the depth of 8,000 meters, the Shanghai Rainbow Fish Ocean Technology Co said.
New Britain Trench is more than 8,000 meters deep in the Solomon Sea off Papua New Guinea, Fang said.
The voyage will last 70 days and return to Shanghai on September 22 after covering 8,600 nautical miles.
The vessel will also organize several groups of deep-sea exploration lovers at Papua New Guinea.
“Zhang Jian is China’s first ship specially designed and built for deep-sea exploration. This journey is an important step in our efforts to take on the Mariana Trench,” said Fang.
The ship, named after the founder of Shanghai Ocean University, is 97 meters long and 17.8 meters wide. It has a designed displacement of around 4,800 tons and an endurance of 15,000 nautical miles. It will be used for general ocean expedition missions, deep-sea engineering, rescue and salvage, underwater archaeology and film shooting.
China began developing Rainbow Fish in 2014. It will be able to go much deeper than the Jiaolong submersible, which set a Chinese record for manned diving when it reached 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012.
With a combined area larger than the United States, the world’s 26 hadal trenches, defined as those with depths of 6,500 meters or more, are home to many unknown species as well as energy and metal resources. Exploration at these depths has been held back due to high pressure and low temperatures.
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