HAIKOU /China/, March 13. /TASS/. China's research ship Tansuo-1 carrying a deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) has returned to Sanya port on Hainan Island after a long five-month expedition. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.
According to the newspaper, Tansuo-1 covered more than 22,000 nautical miles (over 40.7 thousand kilometers) during this expedition. The project was implemented by the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with New Zealand partners.
Members of the expedition surveyed the Kermadec Trench in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the Diamantina Trench in the south-east Indian Ocean and other aquatic zones The article notes that this makes the Chinese manned submersible essential to international cooperation in the study of the least explored areas of the world’s oceans.
According to the research team, dives to extreme depths to obtain samples in some parts of the ocean were conducted for the first time in the history of mankind. As a result, the expedition was able to get valuable fragments of geological rocks and water samples from the seabed, which will allow to further study the evolution of life on Earth.
Sanya is one of China's important centers for deep-sea exploration and ocean development. This includes the South China Sea, where there are enormous offshore hydrocarbon reserves. The city is also actively involved in scientific projects related to the study of underwater topography and fauna. In November 2020, Tansuo-1 successfully docked in Sanya after completing an important mission in which Fendouzhe set a new Chinese record for diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, descending to a depth of over 10.9 km.