Did China "Hidden Dragon" go to sea?

China ocean voyage set sail on April 6th, and "Qianlong II" unmanned submersible will go to sea with the ship. Together with "Qianlong II", a water glider will be used in the southwest Indian Ocean for the first time. The development and application of a series of new underwater equipment will contribute to the exploration and scientific research of deep-sea resources in China.

The application of "Hidden Dragon" equipment is a highlight of the 250-day scientific investigation in the Indian Ocean-related waters on this voyage. According to Li Bo, deputy director of the Office of China Oceanographic Association, Qianlong-2, as a 4,500m unmanned cableless submersible with deep-sea resources, has adopted a brand-new non-rotating vertical herringbone design, which is based on forward-looking sonar for collision avoidance control during autonomous navigation, and can simultaneously carry out high-precision fine terrain near the seabed, high-precision near-bottom magnetic force and water body anomaly detection.

Tao Chunhui, the chief scientist of this voyage, said that according to the overall deployment of the "Dragon Exploration" project, "Qianlong No.2" will dive in the second and third segments of this voyage, and complete the micro-topography, water anomaly and magnetic detection tasks of nearly 300 square kilometers, providing key data support for the abandonment of the polymetallic sulfide contract area. At the same time, it has accumulated on-site engineering application experience and initially formed operational capability.