Chinanews, Qingdao, January 17 – China is selecting pilots for its first 7,000-m bathyscaphe, which will be tested in Qingdao in the second half of 2007.

 

The hydraulic pressure upon a bathyscaphe will increase by 10 atm when it dives every 100 m deeper, thus the bathyscaphe must be able to hold 1,000 atm to penetrate the depth of 10,000 meters.

 

The bathyscaphe to be tested in Qingdao is designed by the No. 702 Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. This 8-m-long, 3.4-m-wide and 3-m-tall ellipsoid bathyscaphe is made of special titanium alloy, capable of holding 710 tons of extra weight even at 7,000 m below water, which means that it will be able to reach 99.8% of the seafloors in the world. It will take it about 5 hours to dive to 7,000 m, and the entire operation can be as long as 12 hours.

 

The bathyscaphe will be able to carry one pilot and two researchers at a time, and it will be able to grasp 75 kg of mineral samples with its two manipulators.

 

Currently, only the US, Japan, France and Russia are able to build bathyscaphe, but none of their bathyscaphes can dive deeper than6,500 m.

 

It can be estimated that the new bathyscaphe will unfold a brand new chapter in the history of man's oceanic exploration, especially in the fields of resource prospecting, hydrothermal sulfide inspection, and oceanic biological and geological inspections.