Nestled on the deck of its mother ship, China's most advanced deep-sea submersible is on its way to the depths of the central Pacific Ocean in a program that is being closely watched in Asia and the West for its mining and military potential as well as its scientific research.
The Jiaolong, named after a mythical dragon, is designed to be the world's deepest-diving manned submersible. The support ship is carrying the undersea craft and its three crew members to waters between southeastern Hawaii and North America where it will attempt to plunge 5,000 meters below the surface of the Pacific, exceeding its 3,759-meter dive in the South China Sea last year.
The submersible has a special titanium hull to withstand the crushing pressures of the deep ocean. If the current expedition is successful, the craft is expected to try operating close to its maximum depth of about 7,000 meters in 2012, making it capable of reaching the bottom of almost all the world's sea areas.