Jiaolong (submersible)


Jiaolong is a Chinese manned deep-sea research submersible that can dive to a depth of over. It has the second-greatest depth range of any manned research vehicle in the world; the only manned expeditions to have gone deeper were the dives of the Trieste bathyscaphe in 1960, Archimède in 1962, Deepsea Challenger in 2012, DSV Limiting Factor in 2019.
The general designer is Xu Qinan, a former professor at the School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who also designed many other Chinese submersibles and unmanned underwater vehicles. Xu is now an academician for the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The first deputy general designer is Cui Weicheng, and the deputy general designer was Zhu Weiqing.
On June 27, 2012, the Jiaolong with two oceanauts reached a depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Previously, on June 19, 2012, the Jiaolong reached a depth of 6,965 metres. It had its first test in South China Sea between May 31 and July 18, 2010, reaching a depth of with three crew. On July 22, 2011, Jiaolong reached a depth of in northeastern Pacific. The five-hour mission included chemical, physical and biological research. Seventeen dives have been completed.
Besides China, other countries that have developed deep-water technology include the United States, France, Russia and Japan.