Monday, August 8, 2011

China's Sea Dragon at the Bottom of the Pacific

This Jiaolong not have horns and four legs like a sea dragon in Chinese mythology one. But this Chinese-made submarines capable of diving to depths over 5,000 feet and entered the ranks of the elite submarine dive more than 3,500 meters. Jiaolong is China's manned submarines specifically designed to navigate the deep sea. Tuesday, August 2, 2011 then, the submarine was beyond the ability of the United States submarine, Alvin, to explore the eastern Pacific Ocean, southeast of Hawaii, to a depth of 5,057 meters, 5,188 meters and followed on the next test. Jiaolong plug a new milestone in the race to explore the estimated mineral resources stored in the bottom of the world's deepest ocean. "The depth showed that Jiaolong able to achieve more than 70 percent of the seabed in the world," said head diving operations, Wang Fei. "Jiaolong will pave the way for record-breaking 7,000 meters in a test dive in 2012." Until now the record dive was still held by the Japanese submarine, Shinkai 6500, which dive to 6,527 meters in August 1989. Last weekend, China's maritime agency, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), states that the mission was conducted submarine successful in doing four dives tests, which began on July 21, 2011. "At a depth of 5,000 meters, Jiaolong able to withstand the enormous pressure of about 5,000 tons per square meter," said Wang. "The next test is to conduct scientific research and try various functions of the spacecraft." In a trial dive, the Jiaolong have established a "marker" on the seabed, taking samples, testing underwater acoustic communication devices, and take pictures when dive into the Pacific Ocean. Underwater activities that prove the stability and the ability of various vehicle functions such as diving in the deep sea. Head of the submarine's design team, Xu Qinan, stating that the underwater digital communication systems and mobility systems owned subsea Jiaolong allow submarines to move forward and backward with ease inside the sea. Design and a variety of cutting-edge technologies owned vehicle along the 7.9 meters allows Jiaolong dive until 7,000 meters below sea level. The depth that will be visited three crew Jiaolong, Tang Jialing, Wentao Fu, and Ye Cong, in dives using titanium-bodied vehicle next year. Jiaolong developed by the National 863 Program of China government, or better known as Plan 863. The program also involved in the construction of the Shenzhou spacecraft, lifting China as the third country to send human and fly into space. With this submarine, the Chinese government is able to explore many of the estimated mineral deposits stored in the deep ocean floor, such as gold, copper, zinc, yttrium and even a rare mineral. In contrast to the mineral reserves in the bowels of the earth which is increasingly thinned because the mining industry amounted to U.S. $ 225 billion a year, the world's oceans, which cover more than two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of 4,000 meters, offers abundant mineral reserves. China has signed an agreement with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to map areas in the Pacific Ocean covering 7.8 million hectares. A few weeks ago, the ISA issued a permit for China and Russia to explore the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone, rich in manganese, in the east of the Central Pacific. The only submarine ever venture into the depths of more than 7,000 meters is bathyscape (ultradeep submarine) Trieste in 1960. Switzerland Oceanographer, Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, a record 10,916 feet below the ocean surface when they dive to the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest point on earth. Jacques and his father, Auguste Piccard, contributed ideas in the design of the ultradeep submarine. Russia has two Finnish-made Mir submarines with a maximum of 6,000 meters diving ability. Mir has been used by Hollywood film director James Cameron to film the wreckage of the Titanic. Ability "sea dragon" makes China gain access to various areas of the ocean in the world as well as one of five states that can reach 3,500 meters below the sea. Besides China, Japan, and Russia, two countries that have a deep-sea submarine is the United States and France. France has Nautile, who also visited the ruins of the Titanic, which can dive to depths of 6,000 meters. Nautile recently helped find the black box aboard Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. U.S. submarine, Alvin, can dive to a depth of 4,500 meters. The submarine operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has completed its final mission, studying the effects of oil spills on marine life, a few miles from the location of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon. WHOI plans to overhaul the submarine Alvin that it can reach a depth of 6,500 meters and enlarge the cabin crew of a titanium ball.*** [TJANDRA DEWI | XINHUA | GUARDIAN | GRAPHICNEWS | KORAN TEMPO 3609]

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