Crew sets record for deepest dive
Source: Xinhua |
June 16, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE three-person crew of China's deep-sea submersible Jiaolong stepped aboard the mother ship yesterday after their historic dive to the deepest place on the planet - only to be welcomed with a bucket of water over each of their heads.
The unorthodox greeting was the crew's way of celebrating their safe return after setting a national record for a manned deep-sea dive.
Ye Cong, Cui Weicheng and Yang Bo steered the Jiaolong vessel 6,671 meters into the Mariana Trench, far surpassing the 5,188-meter record it set last July.
"It is really an unexpectedly good result," said Liu Feng, the on-scene commander.
The dive, starting at 9am, is the first of a series of six scheduled in an attempt to reach the nation's first 7,000-meter manned dive.
The dive went smoothly, taking the submersible about three hours to reach a depth of 6,000 meters.
The Jiaolong ejected its ballast iron and began to rise at 12:44pm after the crew had reached 6,671 meters. A problem did come up during its rise, when the submersible's No. 1 communication system failed, but the No. 2 set worked fine, ensuring the connection between the vessel and the mother ship.
The Jiaolong, depending on local weather and sea conditions, will try another five dives in the coming days, aiming to move deeper and deeper toward the 7,000-meter target. The six dives, each of which may last eight to 12 hours, will test various functions and performance of the manned submersible at great depths.
Experts say, for safety reasons, sea dives can be conducted only in daylight in no more than class-four winds and no more than class-three waves.
The Xiangyanghong 09 mother ship reached the designated dive zone in the Marianas Trench on Monday morning.
"The Jiaolong will be turned over to the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association for practical applications after the test dives," said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration.
The unorthodox greeting was the crew's way of celebrating their safe return after setting a national record for a manned deep-sea dive.
Ye Cong, Cui Weicheng and Yang Bo steered the Jiaolong vessel 6,671 meters into the Mariana Trench, far surpassing the 5,188-meter record it set last July.
"It is really an unexpectedly good result," said Liu Feng, the on-scene commander.
The dive, starting at 9am, is the first of a series of six scheduled in an attempt to reach the nation's first 7,000-meter manned dive.
The dive went smoothly, taking the submersible about three hours to reach a depth of 6,000 meters.
The Jiaolong ejected its ballast iron and began to rise at 12:44pm after the crew had reached 6,671 meters. A problem did come up during its rise, when the submersible's No. 1 communication system failed, but the No. 2 set worked fine, ensuring the connection between the vessel and the mother ship.
The Jiaolong, depending on local weather and sea conditions, will try another five dives in the coming days, aiming to move deeper and deeper toward the 7,000-meter target. The six dives, each of which may last eight to 12 hours, will test various functions and performance of the manned submersible at great depths.
Experts say, for safety reasons, sea dives can be conducted only in daylight in no more than class-four winds and no more than class-three waves.
The Xiangyanghong 09 mother ship reached the designated dive zone in the Marianas Trench on Monday morning.
"The Jiaolong will be turned over to the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association for practical applications after the test dives," said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration.
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