Submersibles: 5,000-Meter Dive Planned

The Jiaolong, China's manned deep-diving submersible, will attempt a 5,000-meter dive in July. An appropriate area for the manned dive will be selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), confirmed Liu Cigui, head of the State Oceanic Administration.

The Jiaolong is actually designed to reach a depth of 7,000 meters and has completed 17 dives, all in the South China Sea from May 31 to July 18 of last year. The deepest reached 3,759 meters below sea level with three crew members on board, making China the fifth country to descend over 3,500 meters after the United States, France, Russia and Japan. The Jiaolong can be used in 99.8 percent of the world's marine areas.

China will also launch its second marine remote sensing satellite HY-2 this year.