China's first domestically built ocean drilling vessel was commissioned on 17th Nov. in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, marking a major leap in the nation's deep-sea exploration and mining endeavors.
An area of more than 3,000 square meters is reserved on the vessel for nine laboratories involved in basic geology, paleomagnetism, organic geochemistry, microbiology, geophysics, drilling technology and other academic disciplines.
It is expected to strengthen China's capabilities in deep-sea resource exploration and the development of key technologies and hardware, and will help scientists around the world conduct ocean drills, according to a news release from the Ministry of Natural Resources.
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