🇨🇳 Mengxiang Returns With Deep-Sea Cores

China’s deep-ocean drilling vessel Mengxiang has returned from its first South China Sea expedition after a 30-day mission organised by the China Geological Survey. During the voyage, the ship conducted drilling and sampling at two sites, reaching 4,929 metres below the ocean surface and 865 metres below the seabed, a national record for scientific drilling.

The mission yielded a large volume of core samples and data, including a 4.27-metre basalt core expected to support research on the formation and spread of the South China Sea. The vessel, commissioned in November 2024 as China’s first domestically designed deep-ocean drilling ship, is part of a small group of national platforms able to recover hard rock samples from deep ocean basins.

Mengxiang’s stated drilling capacity reaches 11km below the ocean surface, exceeding the maximum capacity of the current world record holder for deepest scientific ocean drilling. The expedition also expands China’s scientific presence in a strategically contested maritime zone.

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