China's First Self-Designed Ocean Drilling Vessel,
On December 27th, the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources announced that China's first ocean drilling vessel, the "Dream", had met or exceeded all design requirements during its first trial voyage, and the trial voyage was a complete success.
The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel is a major scientific and technological innovation project in China led by the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources. It was designed and built by China Shipbuilding Corporation, with more than 150 units participating in research and construction.
The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel is developed and designed by the 78th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. It has a total tonnage of about 33000, a total length of 179.8 meters, a width of 32.8 meters, a range of 15000 nautical miles, a self-sustaining force of 120 days, and a maximum drilling depth of 11000 meters. It can conduct real-time multi-disciplinary testing of drilling cores on board. The total area of the onboard laboratory exceeds 3000 square meters, making it the most advanced ocean drilling vessel in the world. The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel has undergone eight years of intelligent research and development. The research and development team of the 78th Research Institute has broken through numerous core key technologies, completed multiple international pioneering designs, and has fully independent intellectual property rights.
The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel was built by China Shipbuilding Corporation Huangpu Wenchong and officially named on December 18th in Nansha, Guangzhou. It left the dock on December 22nd relying on its own power and began its first trial voyage. The total voyage was about 500 nautical miles, with more than 200 engineering and technical personnel and managers participating. Zhang Haibin, the chief designer of the "Dream" vessel and a senior expert at the 78th Research Institute, led our project team to participate in the trial voyage. Through separate and joint debugging of various systems under navigation conditions, 19 key marine systems such as ship power station, propulsion system, communication and navigation, and rescue anchoring were successfully debugged. Navigation tests and required evidence collection projects were completed as planned. The trial results and data analysis show that the main propulsion and other marine systems have been validated, and their performance and various indicators meet or exceed the design requirements.
The "Dream" ocean drilling vessel will carry out drilling system debugging and offshore testing in the future, and is expected to be fully completed by 2024. The project team of the 78th Research Institute will continue to provide comprehensive technical support to promote the timely completion and delivery of the "Dream" ocean drilling vessel, and make new contributions to the construction of China's strong ocean country!
