China's deep-sea research vessel "Tan Suo Yi Hao" (Discovery One) set sail this week from Valparaiso, Chile to conduct a joint science exploration of the Atacama Trench, which stretches nearly 6,000 kilometers, reaching depths of over 8,000 meters, under the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
A launch ceremony was held on Monday aboard the "Discovery One", which is carrying China's manned deep-sea submersible "Fendouzhe" (Striver).
In November 2020, "Fendouzhe" completed a month-long expedition, reaching a record depth of 10,909 meters, in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, one of the deepest spots on the planet.
The submersible can operate and collect samples in extreme high-pressure, deep-sea environments, and is equipped with multiple high-resolution cameras that can record images from different angles, providing key technical support for deep-sea scientific research.
The Atacama Trench expedition is being jointly conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering and the University of Concepcion in Chile.
The expedition aims to study the biodiversity and chemosynthetic ecosystems in the rarely-explored Atacama Trench, the longest undersea trench in the world.
"The joint scientific expeditions help deepen our understanding of the geological, biological and chemical processes on the seabed of the Atacama Trench," said Rodrigo Gonzalez, a representative from the Department of Science and Technology in Valparaiso.
"Chile is a country that has more sea than land territory. We hope that such cooperative experiences can be further expanded in more fields, and help Chile and China continue to carry out broader cooperation," said Tomas Rementeria, a Chilean senator.
China, Chile embark on joint research mission to Atacama Trench
