A Chinese unmanned underwater vehicle dived to a depth of 10,767 meters, setting a new deep-sea diving record.

China’s independently developed Haidou unmanned underwater vehicle became China’s first autonomous underwater vehicle for scientific research to dive to a depth of more than 10,000 meters, reaching a maximum depth of 10,767 meters, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on August 23rd at a press conference. This achievement makes China the third country, behind only Japan and the US, to send unmanned vessels to depths greater than 10,000 meters.

This incredible feat was reached five times during the maiden voyage of the scientific research ship Tansuo-1, developed by China to study the deep seas. During the voyage, Haidou completed two dives and three dives were completed by the deep-sea submersibles Tianya, a deep-sea lander, and The Yuanwei Experiment, a deep sea elevator used to study the seabed. Haidou, Tianya, Haijiao, and The Yuanwei Experiment are all deep-sea equipment developed independently by China.