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China's unmanned submersible Qianlong No. 2 has showcased new capabilities in a recent exploration of the southwest Indian Ocean, scientists told Xinhua on Monday.
The Qianlong No. 2, China's self-developed 4,500-meter-level autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), has conducted five dives during its journey on the second section of the country's 49th ocean expedition, said Tao Chunhui, chief scientist on the project.
On March 2, the AUV boasted two of its new capabilities on the mission: operating without assistance from its mother vessel, and taking multiple acquisition sensor modules onboard during the dives.
China's unmanned submersible Qianlong No. 2.
To do this, Chinese scientists released an unmanned monitoring platform, which was able to autonomously navigate and monitor the AUV's actions.
"Therefore, the underwater operations of the Qianlong No. 2 could be observed whilst its mother vessel was free to conduct other missions," Tao said.
"When the work of Qianlong No. 2 was done, its mother vessel would come back and collect it from the water," he added.
Its mission was to detect polymetallic sulfide deposits within an exploration area located in the southwest Indian Ocean.
It subsequently acquired a mass of data on landterrain, regional water abnormality and geomagnetism near the seabed.
With a length of 3.5 meters, height of 1.3 meters and width of 0.7 meters, the Qianlong No. 2 was independently designed by Chinese scientists to dive to a depth of 4,500 meters.
It has traveled 325 kilometers in a total of 141 working hours during its journey on the second section of the expedition, which concluded Monday.
"Its newly-conducted capabilities have met our forecasts after the preliminary applications. New capabilities will be improved and upgraded," said Li Bo, head of the research group of the Qianlong No. 2.
The Qianlong No. 2 has been in development since 2011, and was unveiled in October 2014.
Qianlong No. 2 was mainly developed for the exploration of deep-sea mineral resources.
It was mainly developed for the exploration of deep-sea mineral resources, as a comprehensive system with integrated technologies that monitors land-form changes. It also has a seabed camera and magnetic survey capabilities.
A trial exploration of the Indian Ocean in 2016 proved that the AUV can detect deep-sea mineral levels, adapt to complex terrain and finish tasks.
It will continue to conduct underwater detection missions on minor landforms, water abnormity and magnetic surveys in a working area of around 300 square kilometers in the second and third sections of the expedition, according to Li.
The first sea trial of the Qianlong No. 3, an upgraded version of the Qianlong No. 2, is expected to be conducted this April.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
