The Wuxi crew of China's new deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe take a photo with the vessel. [Photo/xhby.net]
The crew of China's new deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, returned to Wuxi, in East China's Jiangsu province on Nov 30 after a two-month ocean expedition, local media reported.
During the expedition which started on Oct 10, the vessel successfully completed 13 dives, eight of which exceeded a depth of 10,000 meters in the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest natural trench which is located in the western Pacific.
At 8:12 am on Nov 10, the manned submersible set a new national record by diving to a depth of 10,909 meters in the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of Earth's oceans located at the southern end of the Mariana Trench.
Officials said the feat shows that China now has the ability to conduct scientific exploration and research in the deepest parts of the ocean, which reflects the country's overall capabilities in cutting-edge maritime technologies.
They said the expedition team overcame difficulties such as typhoons, rain and high temperatures. It conducted multiple tests and obtained sediment, rock and seabed biological samples, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The 11 members arrive at the Sunan Shuofang International Airport in Wuxi on Nov 30. [Photo/wxrb.com]
Ye Cong, chief designer of the Fendouzhe, said that they were excited to come back to Wuxi in the wake of the successful completion of the 10,000-meter sea trials.
The Fendouzhe project was launched in Wuxi in 2016 and undertaken by the scientists and engineers behind China's Jiaolong and Shenhai Yongshi (Deep-Sea Warrior) submersibles.
A Wuxi-based research institute under the aegis of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited spent five years on the project, aiming to create a manned underwater vehicle capable of surveying the entire ocean, which later received the name Fendouzhe.
Hu Zhen, deputy chief designer of the vessel, said that in order for the project to achieve its primary goals, it needed to dive to the extreme limits of the ocean.
Almost all the vehicle's technologies and instruments were developed by Chinese researchers, according to the China Ship Scientific Research Center.
According to Hu, Chinese R&D teams made breakthroughs on the materials and processing techniques for high-pressure-resistant manned cabins and floating materials -- two key technologies to design deep-sea submersibles -- and applied them in the Fendouzhe.
In June 2012, Jiaolong, China's first deep-sea manned submersible, set China's diving record by descending 7,062 meters into the Mariana Trench. Meanwhile, the Shenhai Yongshi, China's second deep-sea manned submersible, has an operational depth of around 4,500 meters.
