China's Submersible Arrives Mariana Trench

China's submersible Jiaolong has arrived at Mariana Trench for series of 6 dives to try for a new dive record

The Xiangyanghong 09 ship carrying China's manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong arrived at the designated dive area of the Mariana Trench on Monday morning, where it will attempt the world's first 7,000-meter dive.

The first dive will challenge the depth of over 5,000 meters, but less than 6,200 meters. The fifth and sixth dives are scheduled to challenge the depth of 7,000 meters.

The six dives will test various functions and performances of the manned submersible at great depths and each dive may last for eight to 12 hours.

The Jiaolong succeeded in diving 5,188 meters in the Pacific Ocean last July, enabling China to conduct scientific surveys in 70 percent of the world's seabed areas.