China's deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, set a national diving record of 10,909 meters on November 10, 2020 in the Challenger Deep, a 11,000-meter chasm located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Yang Shenshen was one of the R&D team members who have contributed to the success of the deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe.
The Fendouzhe manned submersible is the third manned submersible that Yang Shenshen played a role in the research and development and testing.
"Jiaolong" is China's first self-designed, self-integrated and self-developed large-depth manned submersible.
After countless experiments, in 2009, the "Jiaolong" submersible started a four-year sea trial.
Jiaolong reached its deepest depth of 7062 meters in the Mariana Trench on June 27, 2012, creating the world's largest diving depth record for manned submersibles, and achieving significant progress in China's deep-sea equipment and deep-sea technology.
It was not long before Yang Shenshen became the deputy chief engineer of China's second deep-sea manned submersible Shenghai Yonshi or Deep Sea Warrior.
Yang Shenshen and his team made repeated demonstrations and tackled key problems day and night by conducting thousands of experiments at sea.
On May 13, 2018, the "Deep Sea Warrior" carried 82-year-old Wang Pinxian, the oldest passenger who is a well-known Chinese marine geologist, the leader of the South China Sea Deep Plan Guidance Expert Group, and the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The deep submersible carried him down three times and during the longest diving he spent 8 hours making investigations on the seabed.
With the success of the "Deep Sea Warrior", the manned deep-sea diving team aimed at the 10,000-meter deep dive target.
Yang Shenshen and his design team overcame many core technologies such as "large-capacity deep-sea energy system" and "low-noise and high-efficiency propulsion system", and realized the localization of many key materials or components.
Starting in October 2020, the Fendouzhe deep-sea submersible began to challenge the depth of 10 thousand meters.
On November 10, 2020, China's deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, set a national diving record of 10,909 meters in the Challenger Deep, an 11,000-meter chasm located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.
The successful research and development of the deep-sea submersibles Jiaolong, Deep Sea Warrior and Fendouzhe marked the development process of the pedigree of China's manned submersibles and also witnessed the growth of a "post-80s" scientific and technological worker.
Today, Yang Shenshen has become a leader in the field of mechatronics for manned submersibles in China.
