Extraordinary Decade: "Science", Ten Years of Scientific Research in the Deep Sea

In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping elaborated on the work of the past five years and the great changes in the new era and decade. He said that basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs have been achieved in some key core technologies, strategic emerging industries have developed and grown, and major results have been achieved in manned space flight, lunar and Mars exploration, deep-sea and deep-earth exploration, supercomputers, satellite navigation, quantum information, nuclear power technology, large aircraft manufacturing, biomedicine, etc., and China has entered the ranks of innovative countries.

In the process of going to the deep sea, the successful development and delivery of the "Science" marine science comprehensive research vessel is a milestone. In September 2012, the "Science" was officially delivered to the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao for operation and management, which opened the prelude to my country's deep-sea ocean research from the perspective of the ocean system, and led China's marine scientific investigation from the nearshore to the ocean, from the shallow sea to the deep sea. In the past ten years, the "Science" has witnessed the glorious course of the rapid development of my country's marine science and technology, and is also a microcosm of my country's solid progress from a maritime power to a maritime power.

Over the past decade, the Science has produced a wealth of scientific output. Long-stemmed sponges (new species) discovered in the Caroline Seamount in the western Pacific Ocean

Image courtesy of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Three generations of scientific research vessels carry Chinese scientists to the deep sea and ocean

Entering the 21st century, the ocean has once again become the focus of world attention, and the national strategic status of the ocean has been unprecedentedly improved. Marine scientific research is the foundation for building a strong maritime nation. Scientific research vessels are the infrastructure of marine scientific research. Without excellent scientific research vessels, marine research can only be "looking at the ocean and sighing" without knowing where to start.

Looking back at the development of marine scientific research in New China, we can start with the development of scientific research vessels.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, research vessels were mainly converted from old ships. In 1957, the "Venus", the first professional marine research vessel of the People's Republic of China, converted from the ocean-going life-saving tugboat "Production No. 3", was officially commissioned. With the "Venus" as the main ship, the first large-scale national marine comprehensive survey of the People's Republic of China was carried out from 1958 to 1960, and the basic conditions of my country's sea areas were fully understood.

The Discovery ROV captures a deep-sea hairy crab

Image courtesy of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In the 1960s, specially designed and built research vessels began to appear, including the first 2,500-ton marine practice survey ship "Dongfanghong", the 3,000-ton comprehensive survey ship "Shijian", and the first "Xiangyanghong", "Yuanwang", "Kexue", "Experiment", "Exploration", "Shuguang", "Struggle" and "China Marine Surveillance" series of research vessels distributed to various marine survey and research institutions. These research vessels began to use advanced marine survey equipment, and compared with the survey ships converted from old ships, they have improved in performance, layout, and matching of laboratories and special equipment. They can be called the "first generation of marine survey ships" designed and built in my country. This generation of research vessels undertook offshore marine surveys and special research in China's Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea, laying the foundation for China's marine science and technology. Its typical representative is the "Xiangyanghong 10" ocean-going comprehensive survey ship, which won the special prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1988.

A new species of deep-sea sea slug discovered by the Science in the western Pacific Ocean for the first time

Image courtesy of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

From the 1990s to 2012, in addition to the independently developed "Dongfanghong 2", "Yuanwang 3" and "Yuanwang 4", there were only the "Dayang 1" and "Xuelong" purchased and modified from abroad. Due to the limited number of new ships during this period, there was still a gap to meet the actual needs of the rapid development of China's marine science. But in any case, the scientific research ships of this period laid the equipment foundation for "clarifying the Chinese seas, entering the three oceans, and landing on Antarctica", and became my country's second-generation main scientific research ships.

Golden coral collected by the Science on a seamount in the western Pacific Ocean

Image courtesy of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Since 2012, China's scientific research vessels have entered a period of rapid development in both "quality" and "quantity". During this period, the "Science" comprehensive research vessel, a major national scientific and technological infrastructure supported by the National Development and Reform Commission, was put into operation as a milestone. Ship electric propulsion systems and dynamic positioning systems were gradually promoted, scientific research operations and laboratories adopted modular designs, underwater radiation noise and cabin environment control received further attention, and various professional scientific research equipment such as temperature, salinity and depth detection systems, full-sea multi-beam detection systems, and meteorological radars were integrated with ship platforms.

"Science" marine science comprehensive research vessel

Image courtesy of Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

According to statistics, the number of newly built ocean research vessels in China from 2010 to 2021 reached more than 30, and a large number of world-leading research vessels have emerged. For example, the 25,000-ton "Yuanwang 7" successfully completed 21 marine measurement and control missions such as "Tiangong-2", "Chang'e-4", and Beidou satellites; the "Dongfanghong 3", the first domestic and the fourth in the world to obtain the highest level of underwater radiation noise SILENT-R certificate, has entered the ranks of international mainstream scientific research vessels; the world's first six-cable high-precision, short-distance seismic cable three-dimensional geophysical exploration ship "Marine Geology No. 8" has enabled China to stand at the commanding heights of ship technology in the international marine geophysical exploration field; the world's first polar scientific research icebreaker with bow and stern bidirectional icebreaking technology "Xuelong 2" successfully made its maiden voyage to the North and South Poles, filling the gap in China's major polar scientific research equipment; the "Sun Yat-sen University", the domestic marine comprehensive scientific research training ship with the largest displacement and the strongest comprehensive scientific research performance, has realized the integrated innovation of many new technologies such as DC busbar + energy storage battery, rim permanent magnet thruster, and full-speed active anti-roll fin...

Over the past 70 years, China's marine research vessels have expanded from hundreds of tons to thousands of tons and tens of thousands of tons. The survey capability has extended from the shallow waters along the coast of China to the deep oceans and the North and South Poles. The survey content has also changed from single-discipline surveys to comprehensive scientific surveys with multiple disciplines, multiple functions and multiple technical means. As the most important marine research equipment, marine research vessels have made outstanding contributions to supporting the construction of a strong maritime nation.

" Science ", one of the most advanced " mobile laboratories at sea "

As mentioned above, the "Science" pioneered the third generation of scientific research vessels. It is a major national science and technology infrastructure project planned and constructed by the National Development and Reform Commission during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan". As a new generation of advanced marine science comprehensive research vessel in my country, the "Science" has independent intellectual property rights, integrates multi-disciplinary, multi-functional and multi-technical means, and is a modern marine science comprehensive research platform that can meet the needs of multi-disciplinary cross-disciplinary research in marine science. It has global navigation capabilities, and its technical level and survey capabilities have reached the same level as the newly built and under-construction comprehensive research vessels of international marine powers. Many independent innovative designs have filled the domestic gap.

For example, the "Science" adopts the internationally advanced pod-type electric propulsion system, with two bow thrusters at the bow, dynamic positioning that meets the requirements of CCS DP-1 and equipped with an integrated navigation and positioning system, one person driving the bridge, and can achieve stepless speed change from 0 to 15 kn, and 360° rotation in situ at low speed. The ship is flexible to operate, has a large deck operating space, is equipped with a passive controllable anti-rolling water tank, and adopts advanced vibration and noise reduction measures, which overall has high seaworthiness and seakeeping.

At the same time, the "Science" deep-sea comprehensive exploration and research platform has broken through the technical and equipment bottlenecks in my country's deep-sea exploration and research field, and created an integrated design concept for the highly compatible marine comprehensive scientific research ship and detection system driven by scientific goals, leading the construction of my country's new generation of scientific research ships.

For example, for the first time in China, a deep-sea environment detection technology system combining macro and micro, navigation and fixed-point, gradient and in-situ has been established, and breakthroughs have been made in key technologies such as 10,000-meter deep-sea fixed-point detection, 6,000-meter deep-sea detection and sampling, 4,500-meter deep-sea precision detection and sampling, 1,000-meter water body profile navigation detection, 30-meter deep-sea sediment coring and 20-meter long rock coring.

For example, it has the ability to conduct comprehensive detection and sample collection of deep-sea topography, seabed environment, and water environment in three-dimensional, synchronous and precise manner. The resolution of deep-sea near-seabed topography detection has reached the internationally leading centimeter level, realizing the leap from "indoor simulation experiment → marine mobile laboratory → deep-sea in-situ laboratory", and achieving the goal of deep-sea exploration of "being able to go down, see clearly, collect, measure accurately, have complete functions, and be affordable". It has significantly improved my country's deep-sea exploration and research capabilities, and led the leapfrog development of deep-sea scientific research in the Western Pacific.

Over the past decade, the "Science" has safely carried out more than 50 marine survey voyages, sailed safely for more than 2,100 days, and accumulated a total voyage of more than 300,000 nautical miles. The "Discovery" underwater cable-controlled submersible (ROV) equipped with it has completed more than 300 marine scientific expedition dives, supporting more than 420 projects including national key R&D projects, major projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, and strategic priority projects of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its tracks have covered vast waters such as China's coastal waters, the Western Pacific, the North Pacific, and the Central Pacific, achieving many breakthroughs from 0 to 1.

The "Science" has enabled my country's marine scientific research to move from nearshore to offshore, and from shallow sea to deep sea. It has provided irreplaceable and powerful capability support for my country to carry out comprehensive scientific surveys and research in the oceans and even for the implementation of my country's strategy of building a strong maritime nation. It is internationally recognized as one of the most advanced comprehensive scientific research vessels.

Strong "soft power" can make every scientific expedition perfect

To improve marine scientific research capabilities, we need not only good hardware facilities, but also strong "soft power" as support.

When it comes to "soft power", the first thing is to have ideological guidance. The "Science" strengthens the leadership of party building and gives full play to the vanguard and exemplary role of party members in scientific research operations. During each voyage to perform scientific research tasks, a temporary party branch for the voyage is established on the "Science". Since 2017, the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successively established temporary party branches on three scientific research ships including the "Science" and a total of 38 voyages, involving 76 scientific research institutes or departments, 45 party branches and 643 party members. A total of 3 members of the institute's party committee, 6 chief scientists of the voyage, and 7 captains have served as temporary party branch secretaries for different marine scientific research voyages, planting the party flag in the deep sea and ocean, and building the party's battle fortress on the front line of scientific research, ensuring that there is no "deviation" in the direction of party building, no "time difference" in party building actions, and no "gap" in party building results, to escort marine scientific research.

Secondly, a more scientific, standardized and modern ship management system was established, and the "Science" became one of the few scientific research vessels in my country to establish the "International Ship Safety Management System".

In view of the characteristics of the research vessel, the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as the management unit of the "Science", has formed a set of standardized and standardized management systems that meet the needs of marine scientific investigations and the characteristics of ship operation from multiple dimensions such as organizational model, resource allocation method, personnel system and evaluation system, and achieved the management goal of "safer ships, cleaner oceans, and more professional crews". The "Science" is a new generation of scientific research vessel, with the characteristics of a wide variety of ship equipment, high level of electrical automation, and difficult maintenance, which requires a team of highly qualified ship management personnel. The research fleet of the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences took the lead in proposing the slogan of "professional people do professional things in marine investigation activities", and cultivated a scientific investigation team with close cooperation between the deck department, the engine department and the shipboard laboratory, with good technology and tough style. It has formed an efficient working mode in which engineering and technical personnel complete the operation of the investigation equipment and basic sample collection during the scientific investigation, and scientists at sea devote more energy to sample processing, providing solid technical support for marine scientific investigation and exploration research.

Thirdly, we need to provide a better living environment for researchers. The previous generation of research vessels had backward infrastructure and very difficult conditions. Scientific expeditions often required continuous work at sea for dozens or even hundreds of days without returning to land. Due to the lack of sufficient fresh water supply, in order to ensure the safety of drinking water, scientists and staff often could not take a shower after going out to sea. After going out to sea, they were far away from land, had no mobile phone signal, and could not contact their families for several months. There were no advanced refrigeration facilities and no supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. The space on the ship was small, and several people often lived in the same room and shared the same bathroom. There was no dedicated fitness room.

The "Science" not only has advanced precision detection equipment to help scientists obtain more types of samples and more accurate data, but also provides convenient services for scientists in all aspects of life, entertainment, and academic research. For example, the "Science" is equipped with advanced reverse osmosis water generators and vacuum water generators, which can meet the water needs of 80 people and provide 24-hour hot water service. A water purifier is installed on the ship to ensure everyone's safe and healthy drinking water; a global satellite Internet system is installed to make it more convenient to contact with work and family.

It should be said that the past decade is the best decade for my country's marine scientific research. Today, my country has gradually developed three types of marine comprehensive, professional and special Chinese marine research vessels, represented by the "Science", "Experiment", "Exploration" and "Innovation" series of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the "Xiangyanghong", "Dayang" and "Xuelong" series of the State Oceanic Administration, the "Dongfanghong" series of the Ministry of Education, the "Marine Geology" series of the China Geological Survey and the "Yuanwang" series of the Satellite Tracking and Control Center.

However, difficulties still exist - the ability to innovate strategic, basic and disruptive equipment is still insufficient, and some key technologies are still stuck. Only through scientific planning and sustainable development, through unremitting efforts and struggles, can we build an increasingly powerful marine scientific research equipment system in China, meet China's growing needs for building a strong maritime nation, and contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to building a community with a shared future for mankind.