China’s 4,500-metre submersible shows new deep-sea abilities
BEIJING: China’s unmanned submersible Qianlong No. 2 has applied its new capabilities in the latest exploration in the southwest Indian Ocean, scientists have told Xinhua.
The Qianlong No. 2, China’s self-developed 4,500-metre-level autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), has conducted five dives during its journey on the second section of the country’s 49th ocean expedition, said Tao Chunhui, chief scientist on the project.
The AUV used two of its new capabilities on the mission: operating without monitoring from its mother vessel, and taking multiple acquisition sensor modules onboard during the dives, according to Tao.
It thus acquired a mass of data on distribution characteristics such as three-dimensional terrain, regional water abnormity and geomagnetism near the seabed.
With a length of 3.5 metres, height of 1.3 metres and width of 0.7 metres, the Qianlong No. 2 was independently designed by Chinese scientists and can dive to a depth of 4,500 metres.
The Qianlong No. 2 has been under development since 2011.
It was officially unveiled in October 2014.