The Haidou‐1 hybrid underwater vehicle for the Mariana Trench science exploration to 10,908m depth

An unmanned Autonomous and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ARV), Haidou‐1, visited the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, and performed observation, sampling and bathymetric mapping explorations at the trench bottom. The Haidou‐1 vehicle reached a depth of 10,908 m in the west pool of the Challenger Deep and probed a depth of 10,909 m in the east pool. The 2600 kg underwater robotic vehicle could conduct survey missions with full autonomy and can also be remotely operated through a light fiber tether. Haidou‐1 carries an electric manipulator to implement lightweight intervention tasks. The fiber‐optical tether enables long‐distance real‐time high‐bandwidth communication at full‐ocean depth, thereby providing situational awareness and remote intervention. The hybrid concept we defined for the Haidou‐1 vehicle refers to three typical working modes: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle mode, Remotely Operated Vehicle mode, and ARV mode. There is no need to change any structural configuration at sea to meet the needs of multidisciplinary oceanographic investigation. This paper reports the overview design of Haidou‐1. Practical field trials at the Challenger Deep were conducted to validate the feasibility and performance of the developed system. In the aggregate, eight dives exceeded 10,000 m counting all three operation modes. Some of the initial results are presented including the high‐resolution bathymetric map created by Haidou‐1 onboard sonar, and no similar results have been found yet.