Mengxiang drilling vessel completes successful South China Sea trial

The ocean drilling vessel Mengxiang has successfully completed its first trial drilling mission in the South China Sea. During the 30-day mission, the vessel operated at a water depth of 4,100 meters and achieved a maximum drilling depth of 4,929.17 meters, setting a new domestic record for autonomous deep-sea drilling.

The mission successfully recovered 4.27 meters of basalt core samples from the South China Sea basin. This achievement makes China the third country in the world, following the United States and Japan, to successfully obtain hard rock samples from a deep ocean basin using a drilling vessel.

Chief scientist Sun Zhen stated that the mission enhances China's deep-sea core sampling capabilities to the 5,000-meter level, placing the nation's deep-sea drilling technology among the international leaders.