Tansuo-1 research vessel File Photo: VCG

China's scientific research vessel Tansuo-1 returned to Sanya, in South China's Hainan Province, on Sunday after completing its research mission for 2021 in the Mariana Trench. Its manned submersible completed 23 dives, including six immersions at a depth of over 10,000 meters. 

During the joint operation with the 10,000-meter manned submersible Fendouzhe, the Tansuo-1 conducted a scientific expedition to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, and collected valuable abyssal water, sediment, rocks and biological samples, providing valuable data and specimens for multidisciplinary studies through the comparison of different depths.

A total of 17 researchers from across the nation participated in the dives in the Fendouzhe, including five female scientists who reached a depth of 10,000 meters for the first time. 

So far, the manned submersible has completed 21 immersions at a depth of 10,000 meters with 27 scientists reaching the deepest point in ocean in the world by a manned submersible, putting China at the top of the world's list of 10,000-meter depth operations and the highest number of divers at this depth. 

During the voyage, the team of scientists jointly initiated the Mariana Consensus Initiative, a standardized platform system for deep-sea scientific research for the long-term preservation and sharing of deep-sea scientific samples and data and to support international deep-sea scientific cooperation. 

Meanwhile, the Mariana Trench Environment and Ecology Research Project was launched to invite domestic and overseas researchers to conduct scientific research around the Mariana abyss.