Trial dives of Jiaolong achieves great success

China's manned submersible Jiaolong conducts deep sea work in Pacific Ocean, June 30, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

ABOARD XIANGYANGHONG 09 - China's manned submersible Jiaolong has successfully completed its program of deep sea dives, with a sixth and final dive to 7,000 meters in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday.

Jiaolong will now enter a trial period of application after having come through its program of test dives to depths ranging from 1,000 to 7,000 meters in the deepest part of the world's oceans.

According to the on-scene headquarters, the submersible took three plunges to the depth of 7,000 meters during the six dives, the greatest depth being 7,062 meters.

"The Jiaolong set a national dive record for a manned submersible after reaching 7,000 meters below sea level, which marks a fresh breakthrough and a giant leap in the development of China's deep-sea exploration technology," said on-scene commander Liu Feng.

"It enables China to conduct deep-sea scientific research and resources exploration in 99.8 percent of the world's oceans," he said.

With the successful trial dives, China has become one of the deep-sea faring countries. The United States, Japan, France and Russia currently lead the world in the development of deep-sea exploration technology, each possessing their own submersibles and support bases.

Technicians test equipments for China's manned submersible Jiaolong on Xiangyanghong-9 ship in Pacific Ocean, June 30, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Technicians transfer China's manned submersible Jiaolong to its mother ship Xiangyanghong-9 in Pacific Ocean, June 30, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]