China's AUV Sets New Deep Sea Diving Record of 7,709 Meters

Wukong, a fully autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by Harbin Engineering University, recently descended to a depth of 7,709 meters, setting a new record for China's unmanned and wireless submersibles.

The depth was second only to the record set by Russian AUV Vityaz-D.

The AUV was launched from Shenhai Yihao, a scientific expedition vessel designed and built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC). It was the first time the vessel has conducted a scientific mission carrying an AUV.

The vessel had just returned from a successful scientific expedition in the western Pacific, during which several other diving experiments were also undertaken.

The 90.2-meter long and 16.8-meter wide vessel has a designed draft of 5.5 meters and a speed of more than 16 nautical miles per hour, and is capable of navigating as far as 12,000 nautical miles.

It was designed and built with the most advanced and trans-disciplinary technologies in the fields of weight control, materials, engineering, interior decoration and lighting systems.

The world's newest manned deep-sea submersible mother ship, Shenhai Yihao plays a crucial role in improving China's fine exploration capacity of ocean resources and environment and safeguarding its maritime rights and interests.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)