A Chinese manned submersible successfully reached a depth of 4,027 meters during a dive test conducted Thursday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said.
The five-hour-long test started at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, with the submersible Jiaolong carrying three people to a depth of 4,027 meters in an international area of the ocean.
The SOA work team in charge of the mission said that the dive was intended to test the submersible's functionality. The submersible was found to be working normally and may be able to reach even greater depths, the team said.
The SOA said the submersible is scheduled to conduct another dive test on Friday, when it will attempt to reach a depth of 5,000 meters.
With the capability to dive to a maximum depth of 7,000 meters, presently Jiaolong is the world's deepest diving manned submersible.
After the trial dive of 5,000 meters, it will prepare for a 7,000-meter-dive next year, which will set a new record.
The Jiaolong manned submersible prepares to depart from a port in East China's Jiangsu province for a trial dive, July 1, 2011.