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China Plans Massive Sea Lab 10,000 Feet Underwater In the South China Sea (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In an effort to hunt for materials, China is planning to build a manned deep-sea platform in the South China Sea. The lab may also serve for military purposes in the disputed waters as well. The lab would be located as much as 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) below sea level, according to a recent Science Ministry presentation viewed by Bloomberg. Bloomberg writes: "The project was mentioned in China's current five-year economic plan released in March and ranked number two on a list of the top 100 science and technology priorities." There are few public details specifying the timeline of the project, any blueprints, costs or where exactly it will be located. China's President Xi Jinping considers more than 80 percent of the waters its sovereign territory. The country has even created several artificial islands in the South China Sea covering 3,200 acres. Last year, the NYT posted a fascinated piece showing clear satellite imagery of the new islands being built.
You better check under the sea
'cause that is where you'll find me
Underneath the
SeaLab
Underneath the water
Underneath the
SeaLab
At the bottom of the sea...
See, now America's attempts to keep them restrained in that area will be perceived as anti-science. Very, very clever...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
If you're looking for me. You better check under the sea. Because that is where I'll be underneath the SEAAAAAA LAAAAAAAB Underneath the waaaaater SEAAAAAA LAAAAAAAB at the botom of the seaaaaa!
...Chinese sea men?
we know less about the depths of our seas than the surface of the moon, it seems. This will benefit everyone. The rhetoric from the U.S is just hostile and war-mongering, and should be condemned.
These are international waters, open to exploration by ALL. This may just be a serious science project, but if it's not just that, the rest of the world needs to do the same. America is not perfect, but I would never, ever, EVER, trust the Chinese government to do ANYTHING for purely altruistic purposes - even for their own people. They get away with too much, already!
Artificial islands on the surface, deep-sea facilities on the sea-floor...me thinks China might have found something extremely valuable in the South Sea. Something worth spending a huge amount of money to investigate.
Why not an underwater version of the international space station? Cooperative with shared costs and all parties can rest assured that it's purpose is not nefarious.
Why not an underwater version of the international space station? Cooperative with shared costs and all parties can rest assured that it's purpose is not nefarious.
yeaaaaah rrrrriiiiiight. difference is that space doesn't have a bunch of submarines carrying massive amounts of nukes. the under sea is very protected for a reason...
Anything at 9,000 feet would be pretty impressive. A massive sea lab at that depth is probably more than a little far fetched. That's beyond the crush depth of most nuclear powered submarines.
It will be a fake sea lab, located within the deep blue zone of a polluted sea within perhaps 150ft of surface with plenty of PeeWee Herman Funhouse CGI and handshaking and backslapping for a Yob Well Done hurrd durr?
Nice sea lab you got there, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it. 4335.1492 ft per square inch, wouldn't take much...
Isn't that around 300 atmospheres of pressure? Won't building something like that be expensive?
If they can build a habitable sphere that can withstand the 2ton/sq.in. at that depth, then more power to 'em. We have DSV that easily go that deep, but they're the size of a small car and carry the supplies to survive at most a day.
And tell him THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was *NOT* a documentary!!!
The only place that's not much messed up by men yet (besides MH370 and a few other vessels)
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
AC the US lined the oceans with its mil sound surveillance system back in ~ 1960's (SOSUS) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... so any mil precedent has long been set by the US to use the oceans for "anything" any nation wants.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
If they succeed, they should be sure to take care when stocking the soda machine in the break room. Those things can be dangerous...
These are international waters, open to exploration by ALL. This may just be a serious science project, but if it's not just that, the rest of the world needs to do the same. China is not perfect, but I would never, ever, EVER, trust the American government to do ANYTHING for purely altruistic purposes - even for their own people. They get away with too much, already!
FTFY
Seaquest DSV.
"Why not an underwater version of the international space station?"
Do you mean a multinational research station that China is excluded from for no particular reason? Uhh, no.
will this Sealab be operational in 2020?
This is how China owns the south China sea. They put undersea cities there.
What was China's first science priority?
The US should totally build one.
We cannot have a Sea Lab Gap!
Undersea outposts were pretty thoroughly explored in the 1960s - at that time, there was no economically viable undersea pursuit worth pursuing.
In other words: when you go underwater and stay there for long periods, you're essentially burning money. Fine if you want to park nuclear missiles off other people's shores, but otherwise not worth the effort.
If a private security firm can find 'before' and 'after' pictures of an attack on an alleged Russian base inside Syria how come nobody can provide 'island' pictures to prove to us the existence of those islands?
They keep on telling us China is building artificial islands, but all the while they give us OLD pictures
Why can't they give us more recent pix of the so-called 'artificial islands', the ones they accuse China is building?
I smell a freaking false flag
TFA says this is a danger. I could see this while building it, but would you even notice a typhoon happening if your 10,000 feet under, and anchored to the bedrock??
Think for a moment before you fall into the 'China building artificial islands and we must stop them' trap
If there is a war, if indeed America fights China over the little islands in the South China Sea, you think Hillary gonna send her daughter to fight? You think Trump's son gonna volunteer to fight?
Who do you think Washington DC will send to fight and die to 'uphold the dignity' of the the Vietnamese / Filipinos?
Yes, it's gonna be your children, my children, all children of the 'working class'.
Them elites will never sacrifice their own young. It will be our sons and daughters who will die.
If the Vietnamese don't like the Chinese. Tough. Let them take on the Chinks their own way.
If the Filipinos are so gung ho over the little islands in the South China Sea. Tough. Let them fight the Chinks themselves.
Why should we get involved?
Why should our sons and daughters be sent there to fight, to bleed, to die for foreigners who aren't willing to fight and die?
Stop being a cow! Stop being fooled by the elites.
In Popular China, the cities live in you.
Why can't you launch a missile from deep sea?
Is it because of gravity? Pressure? Metal fatigue? Lack of technology?
Or is it because they are Chinese, and Chinese are not supposed to be good for anything?
Since TFA didn't give much except speculation about the base itself, I got nerd-sniped by big numbers and wikipedia.
US's estimate of the oil-gas reserves in the area they're scouting-
190 trillion ft^3 or about 1300 cubic miles of gas = 42 gigajoules
11 billion bbl oil ~= 22 GJ.
64GJ = a least a thousand tsar bombs or a hell of a lot of time traveling.
No country can unilaterally delimit another's 200 mile EEZ. For some interesting judgments and to gain an understanding as to how the world court deals with territorial sea disputes Google: "Falklands - Territorial Waters Academia"
Do you mean a multinational research station that China is excluded from for no particular reason?
The obvious rebuttal is the well-known Chinese government penchant for stealing technology. That's the particular reason.
And of course nothing could possibly have changed since the sixties. ;-)
These are international waters, open to exploration by ALL. This may just be a serious science project, but if it's not just that, the rest of the world needs to do the same. America is not perfect, but I would never, ever, EVER, trust the Chinese government to do ANYTHING for purely altruistic purposes - even for their own people. They get away with too much, already!
Well, welcome to the other side of the fence - I'm glad you could join us. That is what many have been saying about America for many years; now you can see things from the outside. Sorry, I shouldn't gloat, it's just such pleasant feeling, as I'm sure you know.
There is little doubt that this is a serious, scientific project, but no science is purely unpolitical; practising science in any form tends to influence your thinking and make you less tied up in things like national patriotism, religion etc - after all, as a scientist, you have to learn from and cooperate with scientists and other thinkers from all over the world. Also, science has the potential to increase the power of whoever knows the results; how can it not be political? Fortunately, most of science is open and international simply because it has to be - it is almost impossible to advance science, except in a very narrow set of subjects, if you work in isolation. Which is why we perhaps shouldn't fear China and their efforts as much - or America, for that matter: we all need each other. Instead, we should ask to join them, or take the initiative to set up a more international project and invite them in.
As anyone who has studied the Truth about the World as revealed by Grand Master Terry Pratchett in Good Omens, where He reveals The Truth about the World, will know, the Tibetans have for millennia been digging tunnels all over the world. This is just another Sinister Plot to continue this, no doubt, by the Secret Masters in Shangri La, the very same people who are behind both the evil Chinese government, President Obama and Boris Johnson. It is time for the X-men to step in and rectify matters, one feels.
A multinational research station where everyone keeps things for themselves? What's the point?
Not to mention that they can't transport much stuff on re-entry and that the soviet union is allowed to have it's own place.
A multinational research station where everyone keeps things for themselves?
Both the US and the USSR do keep some things to themselves such as military technologies that have been repurposed to support the ISS (communication systems in particular). Also, it's hard to attract commercial interest in the ISS as a research platform, if they have to worry about ongoing Chinese espionage on the ISS itself.
"The obvious rebuttal is the well-known Chinese government penchant for stealing technology. "
If it's tech that we're not using, then I say let the Chinese run with it.
HA lol!
This has about as much to do with scientific research as [insert something funny here].
This is China. This is the South China Sea. This is about sovereignty. It is about establishing "use" and "continued presence" to extend national boarders or to strengthen their position in that regard. Which is ultimately about resources.
This happens all the time internationally, though I'll admit this is the first time I've seen it occur as a underwater sealab! It does have the bonus that once in place there is very little anyone can really do about it.
For a nicer way to do it see this:
http://www.businessinsider.com...
Canada and Denmark contest a barren speck of rock as territory, but it seems both military's at least have a sense of humour!
There is no such thing as stealing technology. If I'm a cave man who figured out how to make fire, and the guy from the cave next watches and figures out my technique, I have not lost anything.
Is this base gonna be more like Starfish or
preparation for Seveneves ?
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
There is no SeaLab gap! As multiple documentary films demonstrate, a western SeaLab has been in operation for decades.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278877/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Also, we apparently have submarines that can do essentially anything.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106126/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057798/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046672/?ref_=nv_sr_2
If I'm a cave man who figured out how to make fire, and the guy from the cave next watches and figures out my technique, I have not lost anything.
You lost any technological advantage you had from fire over that other caveman. If they're a member of your tribe, you'll probably come out ahead due to cooperation between you two. But if he's a member of a rival tribe, then you may die as a result.
Just think about the engineering that'll have to go into something like that. I bet they'll make a lot of new discoveries. They'll also pay a price for it. Achievements like that don't come cheap, in money or men. One screwup at that depth and that's it.