China has just landed a project that has been on the table for a decade: that of the first floating island of deep sea research of the world. It looks like an oil well, but it is actually a megastructure that is prepared for everything. And, when we say “everything,” we include the end of the world. Because it is a research center, but also a command center and a nuclear bunker.
And it has already raised concerns about possible dual use by China.
In short. A few months ago we echoed the China’s plan to formalize this project that has been in the oven for years, but that has not materialized. It was now when, according to the state channel CCTV Newsthe country will begin the final phase of design and construction of the platform. The name by which it has been known until now is the “Deep-Sea All-Wather Resident Floating Research Facility”, and it will basically be a facility that can do everything.
The installation. Jio Tong University in Shanghai is in charge of the bulk of the project, a platform that will have a double twin hull of 78,000 tons and scandalous dimensions. We are talking about 138 meters long, 85 meters wide and a main deck located 45 meters from the waterline. He Fujianthe brand new new generation aircraft carrier from China, has a displacement of 80,000 tons. To contextualize.
It is semi-submersible and, from the University, they have detailed that it will come to fill a gap that they have detected in the country’s arsenal: that of a research facility that can navigate quickly and remain in an area of operations for prolonged periods. “And, if it reminds us of an oil well, it is because they have been inspired by those facilities, they have combined the design with that of the research vessels and what has come out is… well, what we see in the conceptual image.
Investigation. The idea is that the facility can house almost 240 people for months thanks to the backup energy systems and the main objective set out by CCTV News and Jiao Tong University is to explore deep waters and serve as a research field. mining system testingoil and gas prospecting, as well as research into that unexplored ocean floor.
Bombproof. But there is a twist. The structure is designed to be a fortress capable of withstanding nine-meter-high waves and category 17 typhoons, the highest for this type of cyclones. It is normal since it will be in areas where the hull can suffer, but what is no longer so normal is that the armor has been designed to resist nuclear explosions.
Instead of conventional steel armor, the walls of the complex will be like a sandwich with several layers that will dissipate the shock wave from a nuclear explosion. For construction, it is proposed to use a metamaterial that, under pressure, compresses to create a denser structure than thicker steel panels.
The simulations indicated that these walls will resist more pressure than that of a submarine. And that, together with the fact that it will have a command center, has raised some doubts about the possible dual use of the facility.
Mapping the terrain. Because the ocean floor has become the new battlefield. We don’t even talk about space, since the United States claims that There has been a war with China and Russia for months for control of space, but the launch of this platform project comes shortly after the publication of some information that reveal how China has deployed dozens of research vessels to map the ocean floor.
According to reports published in Reutersdozens of ships have been studying the terrain for years, mapping it and deploying sensors in a strategy to be able to monitor in real time data such as water temperature, salinity, the best prospecting areas and… also everything that moves in that territory. From the United States it has already been raised the voice pointing out that these civilian research vessels “can” collect military intelligence, which represents “a strategic concern.”
This systematic mapping, for some military analysts, has a single objective and it is not to find oil wells: it is to erode the advantage that the United States had in the oceanic battlefield.” And a facility like the one they are now preparing with their sights set on 2030 can be a true marine fortress.
Image | SJTU
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