Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - image: wickamedia

Jialong, the Chinese manned submersible has brought it’s three occupants back from a dive to a depth of over 19,000 feet in the Mariana Trench setting China’s deep-sea diving record. The dive was the first of six scheduled dives and took three hours to reach the deepest depth of the dive. On board the submersible were it’s three occupants, Cui Weicheng, Yang Bo and Ye Cong. Once the submersible reached the bottom and the ascent was to begin, Jialong dropped it’s iron ballast and began the ascent, which took an hour and forty-five minutes. Each of the six dives which last from eight to twelve hours are designed to test various functions and performances of the submersible at depth.