11,000m class free fall mooring system

Abstract

11,000 m class ROV, KAIKO, was developed in 1995 and dived to the seabed of 11,000 m depth at Challenger Deep in Mariana Trench about 20 times (Fig.1). In March, 1996, KAIKO was sampling almost 20 ml of sediment at Challenger Deep (10,897 m depth). Many microbe in deep sea like extreme environments have been found in it, and their life have been cleared by the little sediment sample. So, it is necessary to collect much sediment sample at Challenger Deep to progress the research. But, the vehicle of KAIKO has been lost in May, 2003, because the secondary cable connecting the launcher and vehicle was snapped. The research of extremophiles in deep sea has been interrupted. Therefore, JAMSTEC has developed 11,000 m class free fall mooring system in order to take the image and sediment sampling.