China is ready to enter the deep-sea luxury tourism industry as researchers finalise the design of the country’s first tourist submersible that can reach depths of up to 1000 m.
This feat was achieved by the China Ship Scientific Research Centre in Wuxi, which plans to complete the submersible prototype before the end of 2026, in a move to compete with Western companies like Triton and U-Boat Worx.
The submersible, which is expected to enter the commercial market by 2030, can carry up to 4 passengers per trip, on a ticket ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.
However, building such a submersible was nothing less than a challenge for the Chinese scientists.
They had to come up with a submersible that could withstand enormous atmospheric pressure. Hence, they made a transparent hull which balanced structural integrity with a 360-degree view of the Midnight Zone.
It is a part of the ocean between 1000 and 4000 metres deep, and is called so since it’s completely dark, and no sunlight can penetrate its depths.
The temperature here is around 4 degrees Celsius, and so anything venturing here must be strong to handle the cold and the massive hydrostatic force.
Though China already had dozens of submersibles, they could dive just twenty metres at most.
On the contrary, this vessel is inspired by the country’s record-breaking scientific deep-sea submersibles, the Jiaolong and the Deep Sea Warrior.
According to experts,…
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