Count the "shocking" results of China's third 10,000-meter abyss scientific expedition

Sanya, 17 Oct (Xinhua) -- The exploration and discovery of the abyss has attracted the world's attention, and the exploration of the abyss is inseparable from the support of deep-sea exploration technology and equipment. China's third 10,000-meter abyss comprehensive scientific expedition returned on the 16th, fully verified the stability and reliability of 9 types of domestic deep-sea equipment, and achieved a number of scientific expedition results, which were considered "shocking" by industry experts.

9 types of domestic deep-sea equipment have withstood the test

Deep-sea engineering equipment research and development is an extremely challenging work, the international can be used for abyss detection equipment is very small, China to march to the deep sea abyss, must independently develop the whole sea deep deep sea equipment.

The "2018 Mariana Trench Deep-sea Equipment Sea Trial and Expedition Voyage" (TS-09) is the third 10,000-meter expedition of "Exploration No. 1", one of the purposes of which is to conduct a comprehensive combat inspection of the energy, materials, communications and other technologies and deep-sea operation equipment independently developed for the whole sea, and the voyage is equipped with 9 types of equipment, including the 7000-meter underwater glider of the sea wing, the full sea deep autonomous remote control underwater robot, and the high-definition camera system of the deep transparent ceramic window of the whole sea.

Two 7,000-meter-class deep-sea gliders operated continuously for a total of 46 days, becoming the only abyss-class glider in the world that can work continuously and stably for a long time; magnesium seawater fuel cell carried out two 10,000-meter tests, becoming the first new metal seawater fuel cell in the world to carry out tests in the 10,000-meter abyss; the maximum working water depth of the all-sea deep-sea transparent ceramic window HD camera system was 10,902 meters, breaking through the existing international record...

Third-party evaluators witnessed the whole process of the equipment sea trial and application, and believed that the 9 types of self-developed deep-sea equipment have withstood the test in the deep sea area of the whole sea, and the relevant data and indicators are good.

Three international firsts Three domestic firsts

The results conference held on the 16th released the following key scientific research results:

——For the first time in the world, 3 lionfish samples of the 7000 m class and 2 prawn samples of the 9000 m class were trapped at low temperature.

For the first time in the world, the species has been found at a depth of 7012 meters, which is the largest known depth of survival of the genus.

——For the first time in the world, the in situ enrichment and fixed sampling of microorganisms in vertically stratified water bodies in the whole sea depth has been realized at the same dive, with a maximum depth of 10890 meters.

——For the first time in China, 10,898 meters of sedimentary cores containing overlying water were not disturbed.

——For the first time in China, rock samples located in the seamount chain and the post-Mariana arc tension zone in the eastern Parsiwila Basin were obtained, which provided an important basis for revealing the tectonic evolution and magmatic action in the southern part of the Mariana subduction zone.

——For the first time in China, cross-sectional hydrological data and water samples of key channels between the Mariana Trench and the Yap Trench were obtained.

Bao Gengsheng, the leader and chief scientist of this voyage, introduced that the voyage scientific expedition obtained artificial earthquake and natural earthquake data, seabed topography, oceanographic and physical ocean data, biological samples, water samples, rock samples and sediment samples, etc., providing data and sample guarantees for the multidisciplinary in-depth study of geophysics, marine geology and geochemistry, marine life and physical ocean in the abyss of the Mariana Trench.

Chinese scientists will make greater contributions to the scientific expedition to the abyss of mankind

If the significance of China's first abyss scientific expedition is to open the door of the 10,000-meter abyss, and the second scientific expedition is to prove that the Chinese of the 10,000-meter abyss can not only come in but also carry out research, then what is the significance of the third scientific expedition?

Bao Gengsheng, the leader and chief scientist of this voyage, believes that "the relevant results of this scientific expedition have provided technical support for the development and testing of deep-sea intelligent equipment in the future." ”

"This voyage shows the world that China has the strength to continue to work in the field of abyss research and can lead the development of abyss technology and disciplines." Ding Kang, director of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.

Sun Lei, deputy director of the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that Chinese scientists will make greater contributions to the cause of human deep-sea scientific expeditions.