After years of discussion and technical assessments, China has finally approved a deep-sea research facility that could change marine exploration and expand Beijing’s geopolitical influence in one of the world’s most resource-rich regions. According to a news report in the South China Morning Post, the “cold seep” ecosystem research facility will be situated 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) beneath the surface of the highly strategic South China Sea, a region contested by multiple territorial claims. The facility is set to be functional by around 2030.
The facility, among the deepest and most technologically advanced underwater installations ever attempted, is set to become operational by around 2030. It will accommodate six scientists for missions lasting up to a month. This deep-sea space station will be required to study cold seep ecosystems – the methane-rich hydrothermal vents that teem with unique lifeforms and contain vast deposits of methane hydrates, the report mentioned.
Yin Jianping, a researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with his colleagues outlined the details of the stations’s design in the journal Manufacturing and Upgrading Today.
Some of the salient features includes a long-term life support system, which will be essential when scientists establish and operate a permanent monitoring network to track methane flows, ecological changes, and tectonic activity.
“Construction will soon begin,” wrote Yin and his colleagues, as reported by South China Morning Post. Furthermore, they stated that the station is designed to work closely with unmanned submersibles, surface ships, and seabed observatories to create a “four-dimensional” surveillance grid.
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