China successfully set up a scientific experimental station on the seabed!

The "Exploration II" research vessel and the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible completed a series of sea trials and returned to Sanya a few days ago. During the sea trials, researchers successfully set up a deep-sea in-situ scientific experimental station on the seabed, which will realize long-term unmanned deep-sea scientific research.

The "Exploration II" research vessel. Image source: Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The in-situ scientific experiment station is a new type of deep-sea equipment technology system proposed by my country in recent years. It is centered on the deep-sea/hayssal base station, can carry a variety of unmanned submersibles, and can be connected to chemical/biological laboratories and other platforms to carry out a series of scientific exploration and scientific experiments in situ in the deep sea/hayssal.

"Establishing an in-situ scientific experimental station on the seabed is equivalent to moving the testing and analysis instruments of land laboratories to the seabed as a whole." Chen Jun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that compared with the traditional marine survey method of taking samples from the seabed and taking them to land laboratories for testing, conducting scientific experiments in situ in the deep sea can avoid damage or loss of sample data due to environmental changes.

In-situ laboratory operation screen. Image source: Institute of Deep-sea Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

It is reported that the in-situ scientific experiment station system deployed this time will work fully autonomously on the seabed, capable of self-status monitoring and intelligent management. All data will be regularly transmitted back to the shore-based control center via deep-sea glider relay communications, and scientific researchers can also remotely control the in-situ scientific experiment station.

The in-situ scientific experiment station deployed this time is equipped with a megawatt-hour lithium battery energy system, which has achieved a new breakthrough in energy density. The energy system can store 1,000 kWh of electricity, supporting the in-situ scientific experiment station to work continuously on the seabed for more than half a year.

The operation picture of the submarine base station. Image source: Institute of Deep-sea Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences

During this sea trial, the "Deep Sea Warrior" manned submersible was used to establish an underwater connection between the seabed base station and the in-situ laboratory. The seabed navigation capability and autonomous site movement function of the base station, the autonomous operation mode switching function of the in-situ laboratory, and the inductively coupled wireless communication function were verified.

Later, the in-situ scientific experiment station will also be connected to more intelligent unmanned experiments, detection and information transmission systems to realize long-term unmanned scientific research in the deep sea.

Source: Xinhua News Agency