On the 10 day, the reporter learned from the national deep-sea base management center (hereinafter referred to as the deep-sea base) that the "dragon" manned submersible, which is currently being overhauled in the deep sea base, will carry out the first global navigation examination task in 2020. Ding Zhongjun, deputy chief engineer of the national deep sea base management center, told reporters that the "dragon" new mother ship was tentatively named "deep sea one".

       Previously, the "dragon" mother ship was the "Xiangyang red 09" ship that had been retired for a number of years. The new mother ship is a 4000 ton class research ship with a capacity of 12000 knots. After the delivery in March or next year, it will be able to carry out collaboration work with "dragon", "Hailong" and "hidden dragon" at the same time.

       In 2012, "dragon" completed the largest design sea trial in Mariana Trench, and refreshed the world record of manned submersible. As the conditions of the normal operation of the submersible operation are not complete at that time, the Chinese oceanic mineral resources research and Development Association, as the owner, plans to carry out the pilot application of the "Jiao long" for 5 years, mainly to train professional business support team, establish a national open sharing mechanism, and improve its operational effectiveness. Its transition from sea trial to normal operation.

       In the past 5 years, the "dragon", like a deep-sea taxis, has successfully submersible 158 times, carrying the trained scientists such as "passengers" descended to the depths of the ocean and carried out field investigation and research.

       Since the end of last year, the "dragon" has returned to the deep-sea base for overhaul and technical upgrading, mainly including 3 aspects: improving underwater positioning and target searching ability, improving the ability of topographic topography mapping, and enhancing direct sampling ability.

       For the route of the global voyage, Ding Zhongjun said there are two sets of programmes that have not yet been finalized. However, he stressed that the conditions for the operation of the dragon were basically mature and the basis for the implementation of the plan.

       "Our country has several mineral resources exploration areas on the international seabed. The first plan is to meet the research needs of ocean resources and environmental protection." Ding Zhongjun also said that global navigation is also a major international cooperation project, and plans to dive with scientists along the maritime Silk Road for scientific investigation.

       Source of the article: Science and Technology Daily