The reporter learned from the Ministry of Natural Resources that from February 27 to March 25, the "Deep Sea One" ship carrying the "Jiaolong" manned submersible completed the first equipment test mission after the 2025 technological upgrade.
A new record of the frequency of Jiaolong's dives was set. During the 10-day operation window, Jiaolong conducted 14 dives in total, set a record of completing four "two dives a day", and achieved "one-to-two" operations for nine consecutive times, that is, one submariner led two scientists in a dive. Through this high-frequency and high-quality dive, the overall diving capability of China's first independently developed manned submersible, Jiaolong, has been greatly improved, providing a strong guarantee for the implementation of subsequent high-intensity operations.
The reliability of the localization upgrade of key components has been fully verified. This sea trial fully verified the reliability and safety of the Jiaolong after the iterative upgrade and the localization of key components. It mainly carried out 3,000-meter sea trials to verify the 7,000-meter-class high-energy-density oil-immersed lithium battery pack replacement, domestic direct-drive low-noise DC thrusters, deep-sea hydraulic buoyancy adjustment system development, and emergency hydraulic system interface expansion. The three full-process cycle tests were completed, marking that the energy conservation and consumption reduction of the Jiaolong manned submersible and the localization of key components have made important progress.
After this technical upgrade, Jiaolong will be put into tasks such as surveys of typical deep-sea habitats of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and it is expected to make more than 80 dives by 2025.
