Japan's deep sea probe capable of 8,000-metre dives displayed

The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, unveiled on Monday a deep-sea explorer capable of reaching a depth of 8,000 meters, the deepest among the country's existing deep-sea probes.

The explorer, Urashima 8000, is an improved version of the Urashima vehicle, which can dive to a depth of 3,500 meters.

Researchers hope that studying in detail the topography of the seabed such as around the Japan Trench can help uncover the mechanism behind the occurrence of giant earthquakes.

The Urashima is an autonomous probe under development since 1998. It can navigate without crew on board by following a route entered into the built-in computer and can avoid obstacles by itself.It was used to study landslides and volcanoes on the seabed.

The Urashima 8000 is 10.7 meters long and weighs 7 tons. The design was revised so that equipment on board can withstand water pressure levels seen at 8,000 meters deep, while the propeller was modified to enable fast diving.

According to JAMSTEC, the Urashima 8000 reached a depth of up to about 6,600 meters in test dives so far. It is slated to dive 8,000 meters deep at the Japan Trench off the Boso Peninsula in eastern Japan in July.The probe will conduct a survey in November of the sea area where a 9.0-magnitude quake occurred in March 2011, causing heavy damage to northeastern Japan. It is set to begin full-scale operations in fiscal 2026.



[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

(2025/05/12-00:00)