At the Chinese shipyard in Guangzhou completed the construction of the Meng Xiang vessel, which will become a key tool for scientific ocean drilling. The cost of the vessel is estimated at $470 million, with a length of 180 meters, and operations are set to begin next year.
The ship, named “dream” in Chinese, is intended to study tectonics, ancient sea climate, and microorganisms in deep rocks. One of its most ambitious goals is to reach the mantle, a line known as the Mohorovičić Discontinuity or the Moho boundary.
Meng Xiang is equipped with nine scientific laboratories and a drilling rig capable of reaching depths of 11,000 meters below sea level, surpassing previous vessels like the American Joides Resolution (8385 meters) and the Japanese Chikyu (10,000 meters). This advancement brings scientists closer to fulfilling dreams dating back to the 1961 “Moho” deep-sea drilling project.
The Moho boundary marks a distinctive change between denser mantle rocks high in magnesium and the lighter gabbro of the earth’s crust. Scientists anticipate fresh rock samples will provide insights into crust formation processes and confirm mantle composition theories.
Drilling at extreme depths and pressures requires a dense solution to prevent well collapse. Experts are developing a new circulation system to meet these challenges by 2030.
Planned projects include drilling in the Zunda shelf to study sea level changes over 5 million years, exploring the vanished ancient ocean basin east of Taiwan due to tectonic shifts, and investigating the Mariana Trench where oceanic plate subduction sparks geological, chemical, and biological activities.
A pivotal initiative will examine the current linking Australia and Antarctica, influencing the southern hemisphere climate and