The first “The Dragon Learns to Dive” column, detailing China’s manned-submersible initiatives, appeared in the November 2009 issue of Proceedings. In the four years since, there have been several important technological developments in the program. This is an update.
China’s first manned submersible was approved in 2002. Originally called the Harmony 7000, she was later given the more traditional name of Jiaolong (“Sea Dragon”). With a depth capability of 23,000 feet, she is the world’s second-deepest diving research submersible. In first place is James Cameron’s one-person, 36,000-feet-capable Deepsea Challenger that dove to 35,787 feet in March 2012.
The Jiaolong was an ambitious program for a nation that had never built a manned submersible and had only modest ocean-technology capabilities. As a result, the decade-long time frame for design, construction, and testing was slower than for similar programs in the West. This was not only to achieve an operational capability; it was also “tuition” for learning how to build such systems in the future.
The design, construction, and operational testing were conducted by the China Ship Scientific Research Center in Wuxi, south of Shanghai. The CSSRC is similar in mission and facilities to the U.S. Navy’s Carderock ship-research laboratory in Maryland.
The program used a very conservative approach to the development of the submersible. The Jiaolong’s titanium pressure hull was built and tested in St. Petersburg, Russia, as there were no domestic facilities for the massive structure. Extensive procurement from foreign vendors accounted for an estimated 50 percent of the vessel’s equipment. This was done to save time and to “learn how” rather than having Chinese companies develop equipment for the first time.
By August 2009, the Jiaolong was ready to begin her deep-diving test program. This involved three years of annual expeditions to take the sub progressively deeper in a series of 51 dives. The final test mission lasted 44 days, and in July 2012 she reached her maximum depth of 23,169 feet in the Marianas Trench. (Auspiciously for the “Sea Dragon,” 2012 was the Chinese calendar’s Year of the Dragon.)
Although the vessel will be controlled by the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Agency (COMRA), she is presently operated by personnel mostly from the CSSRC. Ultimately, she will be based at COMRA’s facilities at Qingdao, where a major support base and a dedicated mother ship are under construction. The Jiaolong should be moving there in the next two to three years.
The Jiaolong’s initial missions have been primarily in support of China’s ocean-mining interests. Since mid-2013, the submersible and her current mother ship, the Xiangyanghong 9, have been embarked on a 113-day research expedition in the South China Sea as well as to the northeastern and western Pacific. Earlier dive programs since 2011 have researched seafloor and seamount pavements where ore-quality mineral resources are believed to be located. Also in 2011, the Chinese received approval, through the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority, for exploiting specific deep-seafloor mining sites.
Meanwhile, the CSSRC continues with manned-submersible development. The center is now working on the design and construction of a 14,700-foot, three-person research submersible, with a development time of three to four years. For this project, the Chinese intend to use as much domestic content as possible. The titanium pressure hull will be built in China, and lessons learned from the Jiaolong will be applied. Once completed, the new craft will be based at Hainan Island in the South China Sea.
Professor Weicheng Cui, the CSSRC’s Jiaolong team leader, in the meantime has moved to the Shanghai Ocean University with several of his colleagues. There they will build a two-person, full-ocean depth (36,000 feet) submersible at the university’s new Hadal Science and Technology Research Center, where Cui is now dean.
China’s development of deep-ocean technologies is consistent with its global search for resources to feed the world’s fastest-growing economy. To date, the three submersible programs discussed here have been remarkably transparent in disclosing details outside China. Hopefully this will continue, as full disclosure and international cooperation are still the best ways to ensure rapid progress in frontier areas of ocean-related research and development.
Internally, China’s interests in deep-ocean technologies and operations are getting the highest level of national attention. In May, China’s President Xi Jinping publically recognized Cui and seven of his Jiaolong project colleagues as “Manned Submersible Heroes.”
The dragon has indeed learned to dive, and it will be a future major player in global ocean exploration and resources development.