China's Deep Sea Ambition, Technology, Expeditions: News & Updates

[JSCh]

From weibo user,

航天面面观
7月1日 22:37 来自 微博 weibo.com
深度每增加10米就增加一个大气压，到3000米的时候就意味着每平方米要承受3000吨的压力。3000米海试时在潜器外放了一个普通的一次性纸杯，上岸后发现这个纸杯只有原来的五分之一大小。

July 1 22:37 From Weibo weibo.com
Every additional 10 meters in depth increases 1 additional atmospheric pressure, and when it is 3,000 meters, it means that it will bear 3,000 tons of pressure per square meter. In the 3,000-meter sea trial, an ordinary disposable paper cup was placed outside the submersible. After surfacing and landing ashore, it was found that the paper cup was only one-fifth the original size.​

 

[JSCh]

China delivers first deep-water submarine maintenance vessel
By Gao Yun
2018-07-04 15:20 GMT+8
Updated 2018-07-04 16:13 GMT+8

China delivered its first deep-water submarine maintenance vessel in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province on Wednesday, according to CCTV News.

The home-grown vessel, named “Hai Yang Shi You 791”, acts like a guard of the marine environment. It was mainly developed to conduct underwater detection for offshore oil and gas pipelines, as well as to investigate marine disasters.

Construction on the ship began in January 2017. It is 66.3 meters long, 14 meters wide and 7.6 meters deep. With a maximum load capacity of 1,200 tonnes, it can navigate at a top speed of 13 knots (about 24.1 km/h) and can travel up to 5,800 nautical miles (10741.6 km).

It is expected to largely improve the country’s ability to probe and maintain submarine pipelines. Cutting-edge devices like a lifting flipper, a side scan sonar winch, a magnetometer winch and a remote operated vehicle (ROV) facilitate its role in carrying out multiple tasks – which include routine patrols, leakage and leakage point detection, diving operations and ROV detections, to name a few.

The vessel is said to be the first of its kind in the world.

“The vessel is gathering the functions of inspection, operation and maintenance,” the project manager told CGTN. “It’s fair to say that all the technologies actually exist in the world, but there is no single platform gathering all of them. This is the first platform not only in China, also around the world to gather all the hard techs on the same place.”

Click here to see more features of the submarine maintenance vessel.

A submarine pipeline, one laid on the seabed or below, is a channel to transport gas or oil. It plays a significant role in exploiting, producing and exporting offshore oil and gas. The complicated undersea circumstances can lead to the damage or leakage to the pipelines, which is costly and hard to repair with traditional maintenance methods. With today’s delivery, the vessel will enhance the security risk management of the submarine pipelines, protecting the marine environment effectively.

 

[JSCh]

Acoustics Scientists Propose High-Precision "Searchlight" to Scan Deep Sea Clearly
Jul 16, 2018

As one of the most advanced marine high-tech equipment in the world today, multibeam sounding system (MBSS) is an important means to obtain seawater depth data and seabed topography.

The full-ocean MBSS is used for the detection of high-precision seabed topography within 20 to 11000 meters of depth.

Recently, the full-ocean MBSS engineering prototype was accomplished by the research team led by LIU Xiaodong from Ocean Acoustic Technology Center of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is ready for acting as a high-precision "searchlight" to scan deep sea clearly.

Seabed at 6000 meters depth is uneven, told by the full-ocean MBSS. (Image by IOA) ​

Several years ago, only a few countries, like Norway and Germany, can produce the equipment.

In 2014, the IOA team, together with colleagues of the 863 Plan "Deep Water MBSS Development" Project, achieved a zero breakthrough in the full-ocean MBSS technology.

Now researchers developed an engineering prototype, which breaks new ground in key technologies under heavy noise condition, such as multibeam signal processing, real-time beam stabilization, underwater acoustic arrays with good consistency, and electronic system production, while improves sounding accuracy of the system at the same time.

Researchers have completed more than 6,000 kilometers of sea trials in the South China Sea, the Northwest Pacific and the Indian Ocean, proving that the full-ocean MBSS engineering prototype is reliable for practical application of seabed mapping and scientific research.


Acoustics Scientists Propose High-Precision "Searchlight" to Scan Deep Sea Clearly---Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

[JSCh]

China's Railway Titan Launches World's Strongest Drone
XU WEI
DATE: WED, 07/18/2018 - 14:03 / SOURCE:YICAI

China's Railway Titan Launches World's Strongest Drone​

(Yicai Global) July 18 -- A unit of China’s rail transit giant CRRC has released the burliest unmanned underwater vehicle on the planet, able to lift up to four tons of goods and pick up a needle in water.

CRRC SMD Shanghai unveiled the powerful remotely operated vehicle yesterday, state-backed The Paper reported. This is the first deep-sea equipment developed by CRRC after its acquisition of British SMD, an expert in the field, in 2015.

The heavy-duty ROV is the first commercial deep-sea robot in China, said Chen Jian, vice general manager of another of the firm's units, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric. A smaller version of the product will be put into mass production in future, Chen added.

The ROV has a 250-horsepower engine, equivalent to that of a BMW X6. The submersible can explore as deep as in 3,000 meters and achieve a precision of a few millimeters.

 

[TaiShang]

China unveils world’s first commercial deep-sea robot

By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2018/7/18 22:18:39


China's rolling-stock manufacturer CRRC unveiled a new type of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on Tuesday, capable of carrying four tons underwater.

The submersible has the largest propulsion capability in the world at 250 horsepower, equivalent to that of the BMW X6.

The ROV is small, only weighing five tons, but it can load objects as heavy as four tons in deep-sea missions, such as wreckage removal and emergency rescue, up to a depth of 3,000 meters.

It is the first product from Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) Shanghai, a subsidiary of Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd, since SMD was taken over in 2015, news site thepaper.cn reported.

Compared with other similar devices, it can be operated in real-time with a visibility ranging from one to three meters while carrying out underwater missions. The submersible can also locate and detect subjects with sonar technology, according to Yan Yun, the vice general manager of SMD Shanghai.

Its operation accuracy can reach a few millimeters, making it capable of picking up a needle in the sea, according to Yan.

Unlike the well-known manned submersible Jiaolong, which was only an observation device for scientific research, the ROV will facilitate underwater salvage, rescue and deep-sea mining with more accuracy, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Since China lags behind in the development of underwater submersibles for deep-sea operations, the ROV developed by SMD Shanghai fills this gap, Song said.

The submersible, the world's first commercial deep-sea robot, will be mass produced in the future, thepaper.cn reported Tuesday, citing Chen Jian, the head of SMD Shanghai.

 

[JSCh]

Research ship leaves on scientific mission
By XIE CHUANJIAO | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-01 07:23

Scientific research ship Dayang Yihao prepares to sail in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Tuesday. It will conduct scientific investigations on deep-sea ecosystems and natural resources in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. [Photo/Xinhua]

Research vessel Dayang Yihao, or Ocean No 1, departed its home port in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Tuesday and embarked on a 100-day scientific ocean expedition.

The research vessel will head for areas of seamounts－underwater mountains－in the western Pacific Ocean to investigate resources and the environment. Eighty-seven scientists and technicians from domestic universities and research institutions and 30 crew members are aboard.

"The area is full of mineral resources, such as cobalt-rich crusts and manganese nodules. It's a hot spot for international seabed expeditions," said Li Bo, an official with the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Natural Resources.

"Around the area are a lot of seamounts of different shapes, where research related to biodiversity and the environment will be mainly focused," he said.

According to the association, the expedition will carry out deep-sea investigations of marine microplastics and radioactive isotopes. Researchers will also observe ocean birds and mammals.

Sun Lijia, director of the expedition, said the vessel is carrying innovative deep-sea research equipment, such as the submersible vehicle Hailong 11000, and will test its function during the expedition.

Officials from the ministry, which approved the expedition, said scientific ocean expeditions are part of an effort to build China into a strong maritime power and has major significance for the enhancement of deep-water technology, increasing understanding of the ocean and taking advantage of the ocean in a peaceful way.

The Dayang Yihao is a 5,600-metric-ton vessel with equipment for research in geophysics, marine chemistry, biology and acoustics. It has successfully carried out 18 missions.

It is expected to cover 6,700 nautical miles and return to its home port in November.

 

[JSCh]

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China finds sulfide deposites in Indian Ocean
By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2018/8/13 23:08:39

Oceanic resources important substitute as inland minerals depleting

China's unmanned submersible Qianlong 2 achieved a new record for voyage length and working time during the country's 49th ocean expedition which ended on Sunday, allowing scientists to explore sulfide resources in the seabed of west Indian Ocean.

Chinese research vessel Xiangyanghong 10 reached Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday after 250 days in the Indian Ocean, where Chinese scientists surveyed the distribution of polymetallic sulfide, the hydrothermal area, as well as ocean microplastics for the first time, covering southwest and northwest Indian Ocean.

During the voyage, the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operated for 257 hours in nine separate underwater missions and covered 654 kilometers, according to a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The AUV helped discover polymetallic sulfide, a mineral resource produced from seafloor hydrothermal activities. The expedition discovered three mineralization zones of polymetallic sulfide, and with the help of Qianlong 2, scientists confirmed the distribution characteristics of the mineral resource.

In 2011, China entered into a deal with the International Seabed Authority for a polymetallic sulfide exploration area of 10,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean for 15 years.

The expedition discovered three mineral zones of polymetallic sulfide, which means hydrothermally formed deposits of sulfides and accompanying mineral resources which contain concentrations of metals, including inter alia, copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver.

The international mining industry is interested in the mineral resource because of the gold and silver deposits.

The AUV also succeeded in working without help from its mother vessel and working while using multiple sensor modules, Science and Technology Daily quoted the trip's chief scientist, Tao Chunhui, who is also a researcher at the State Oceanic Administration's Second Institute of Oceanography.

Measuring 3.5 meters long, 1.3 meters high and 0.7 meters wide, the Qianlong 2 was designed by Chinese scientists, and is capable of driving to depths of up to 4,500 meters. The AUV was unveiled in October 2014, and has conducted 50 underwater missions in the last three years, the statement said.

Gan Yanping, a professor at Ocean University of China, told the Global Times that oceanic resources would be an important substitute as inland mineral resources are depleting.

China has made progress in maritime research expeditions with the help of deep-sea exploration equipment, including the Jiaolong, Hailong and Qianlong, which form a complete system of deep-sea exploration for China, Gan said.

China also plans to put three maritime satellites in space to improve maritime research, reports said.

The maritime economy generated 7.8 trillion yuan ($1.22 trillion) in 2017, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) announced in January.

In the past five years, China has expanded its international seabed mining scope to 86,000 square kilometers in the last five years, CCTV reported.

 

[JSCh]

China's unmanned submersible breaks record undersea
CGTN
2018-09-11 14:58 GMT+8

China's unmanned submersible Hailong 11000 has recently set a record by diving 5,630 meters below the sea surface during tests in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Monday.

Carried by the Chinese research vessel Dayang Yihao, as known as Ocean No.1, the submersible has also completed a series of tasks underwater for 13 hours, including a 4-hour observation.

China's unmanned submersible Hailong 11000 /CCTV Photo​

Chief scientist of the team, Li Huaiming, said that the recent sea tests showed the submersible performed well and had a good capability for deep-sea observation.

The submersible Hailong 11000, known as sea dragon 11000, is a Chinese-developed remotely-operated vehicle able to work at a maximum depth of 11,000 meters below sea level. It will complete an 11,000-meter deep sea test by around 2020.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

 

[JSCh]

China building its largest marine fisheries research vessels
Xinhua | Updated: 2018-09-13 09:48

Lanhai (Blue Ocean) 101 and Lanhai 201 have been put into the water in Shanghai, Sept 12, 2018. [Photo/Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences]

SHANGHAI -- Researchers from Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences are building the country's two largest marine fisheries research vessels.

The main bodies of the two vessels, namely Lanhai (Blue Ocean) 101 and Lanhai 201, were completed Wednesday in Shanghai. They have been put into the water and supporting equipment will be installed in the future, according to the academy.

Weighing 3,000 tonnes and measuring 84.5 meters in length and 15 meters in width, each vessel has a cruising power of 10,000 nautical miles and will integrate advanced technologies.

The vessels are capable of collecting and analyzing data and samples in various missions, such as fisheries resource survey and assessment, fishery ecological environment monitoring and research and tests on fishing gears and techniques.

Cui Lifeng, the academy's chief, said that the vessels will play a key role in China's marine fishery research in the following 10 years, and will help improve the abilities to manage marine fishery resources after they are put into use.

 

[JSCh]

15th Sept. CSIC wuhan first steel cutting for deepwater diving support vessel.

Construction begins on deep-diving ocean exploration vessel
By Zhang Han Source:Global Times Published: 2018/9/17 23:18:41


Construction began on a world-class offshore salvage vessel in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao on Saturday and was hailed by Chinese experts as a milestone in the country's deep sea exploration development.

The 13,280-ton, 177.1-meter ship, boasting an endurance of 10,000 nautical miles, will be handed over by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Company (WSIG) to Shanghai Salvage Bureau in 2020.

WSIG is a subsidiary of the State-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and the ship is being built by a Qingdao-based subsidiary of WSIG in East China's Shandong Province.

WSIG CEO Yang Zhigang said the ship will be able to carry out offshore emergency rescues in bad sea and serve marine engineering and national defense, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

Although the future deep diving support ship will not be able to operate in the Arctic or Antarctic, its remote unmanned operating system will expand China's deepwater operating capacity from 3,000 to 6,000 meters, Yang said.

"One meter deeper is a major breakthrough considering the technological barriers," Gan Yanping, a professor at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, told the Global Times on Monday.

"The progress is significant for China's marine strategy. The deep sea is rich in oil, gas and marine life resources," Gan said.

The vessel will support pipe laying at 3,000 meters and deepwater hoisting at 6,000 meters, Xinhua said.

Project manager Chen Haiyong said the ship breaks technical bottlenecks and the near-monopoly of foreign technology in the field of saturation diving.

Saturation diving protects operators from the pain and hazards of long periods in deep waters and is widely used in wreckage recovery, underwater construction and exploration.

"China is a fast-paced newcomer in the global competition of marine development," Gan said.

The ship under construction represents a 50 percent improvement on China's most advanced deep diving support vessel Shen Qian Hao, Chen said.

In 2015, Shen Qian Hao salvaged the South Korean ferry Sewol-ho.

 

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[JSCh]

China completes deep-sea research mission in Mariana Trench
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-16 22:40:40|Editor: Yang Yi

The oceanic research vessel Tansuo-1 returns to the home port in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 16, 2018. A team of 59 Chinese researchers returned Tuesday to Sanya from the Mariana Trench after completing a 54-day, 7,292-nautical-mile deep-sea research mission. (Xinhua/Liu Deng)

SANYA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A team of 59 Chinese researchers returned Tuesday to Sanya in southern Hainan Province from the Mariana Trench after completing a 54-day, 7,292-nautical-mile deep-sea research mission.

Researchers have achieved fruitful results in a mission that includes a deep-sea equipment test and scientific research in disciplines such as geophysics, marine geology, geochemistry and marine biology, according to Bao Gengsheng, chief scientist of the expedition.

During the expedition, two 7,000-meter-class deep-sea gliders operated continuously for 46 days, making it the only abyss-class glider in the world that can work continuously for that period of time.

A magnesium seawater-fuel cell carried out two tests and became the first new metal seawater-fuel cell tested in the 10,000-meter abyss in the world.

In addition, researchers also used a remote-controlled robot to complete a high-definition live-streaming 10,000 meters under the sea.

"The expedition shows that China is capable of carrying out comprehensive equipment test and scientific research in deep sea and abyss," said Ding Kang, director of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Scientists of the expedition greet the welcoming crowd after returning to the home port in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 16, 2018. A team of 59 Chinese researchers returned Tuesday to Sanya from the Mariana Trench after completing a 54-day, 7,292-nautical-mile deep-sea research mission. (Xinhua/Liu Deng)

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A conference on displaying the fruitful results in the deep-sea research mission is held at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 16, 2018. A team of 59 Chinese researchers returned Tuesday to Sanya from the Mariana Trench after completing a 54-day, 7,292-nautical-mile deep-sea research mission. (Xinhua/Liu Deng)

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[JSCh]

Sea expedition breaks world records
By Yin Han Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/18 22:43:40

Scientists use underwater gliders to comb depths of Mariana Trench

Sea creatures. Photos: Courtesy of Tara Expeditions​

Chinese scientists broke multiple world records during a 54-day scientific expedition in the world's deepest sea trench and collected data for a sea trial of the country's first manned undersea vehicle.

The expedition in the Mariana Trench was completed on Tuesday and the team has returned to Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Two of China's Haiyi ("sea wings") underwater gliders worked in water for 26 days and 20 days respectively, and sailed a total of 1,448 kilometers during the expedition, which made it the glider most frequently submerged in the world under 7,000 meters, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Among the 102 gliding dives during the expedition, the gliders reached a depth of more than 7,000 meters 15 times as planned," Yu Jiancheng, a professor at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where the glider was developed, told the Global Times on Thursday.

According to Yu, Haiyi was designed to be capable of working consecutively for nearly a month at a depth of 7,000 meters.

The gliders reached a depth of 7,076 meters in the Mariana Trench, Xinhua reported.

The gliders continued to operate normally even when super typhoons Mangkhut and Kong-rey hit the area, and have collected valuable data as the typhoons passed over when all other scientific work had to be suspended, Yu said.

The gliders were also used in the Bering Sea area in July for the first time in an arctic expedition to measure the ocean's temperature, salinity and depth.

The team also conducted terrain detection at a 5,000-meter-deep seabed, and studied samples collected from sea floor sediments, which provide the basis for sea trial site selection of a manned underwater vehicle, Xinhua reported.

"It will be a breakthrough once the vehicle comes into use, which can help obtain first-hand hydrological data and largely increase the accuracy of hydrological investigations," Hu Zhiyong, chairman of the China Maritime Research Union, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The data can provide accurate information about ocean traffic, and can be used to predict ocean disasters and tides, Hu said.

The marine lander named Haijiao stayed in the trench and operated for 26 days, breaking a world record for one-time working hours in a dark environment, Xinhua reported.

The team also found a type of fish of Bassozetus at a depth of 7,012 meters, the deepest water area known to humans where such fish can survive.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese "Starfish" deep-sea robot dives 6000m under water, lifts 400kg rocks
By Gong Zhe
2018-10-27 18:51 GMT+

A Chinese-made robot set a national record by diving 6,000 meters underwater on Friday.

It also managed to dredge up 400 kilograms of rock samples from the bottom of a West Pacific area. The largest sample weighs 61 kilograms.

The robot - named "Haixing 6000", or "Starfish 6000" - made nine dives during its first scientific expedition.

"The intense, continuous operation further verified the stability of its system," said Li Zhigang, the director of the underwater robot research office at the Shenyang Institute of Automation in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In the 6,000-meter dive that took place on October 16, Haixing 6000 worked along the seabed for three hours, completing various scientific tasks, such as navigation and observations, biological research and mud and water sample collection at the maximum depth of 6,001 meters.

Haixing 6000 is developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Haixing 6000 falls into a category called "ROV," or remotely operated underwater vehicle.

China has built similar devices, named "Tansuo" and "Faxian" respectively, that can reach as deep as 4,500 meters underwater.