As one of the two major national scientific and technological infrastructures in Guangzhou's "5+0+N" science and technology innovation platform system, the Cold Spring Ecosystem Research Device (hereinafter referred to as "Cold Spring Equipment") has recently started construction. The facility is led by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and undertakes the construction, and it is planned to be completed in 0 years. Why is the country willing to invest so much in the design and construction of cold seep plants? What are the scientific uses of the three major parts of the device, namely "submarine laboratory sub-general", "fidelity sub-score overall" and "support sub-general"? In this issue of Science and Technology Weekly, we will find out.
Fidelity class scores overall
Simulating a deep-sea environment in a land-based laboratory
The fidelity of the cold seep plant is the only laboratory built on land, which will build the world's largest scale cold seep ecosystem and combustible ice accumulation mining simulation experimental device, and simulate the deep-sea environment in the laboratory to study the cold seep ecosystem.
Zhang Xin, a member of the Cold Spring Ecosystem Research Device User Committee from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters: "The overall fidelity score is actually to bring the overall sample of the cold spring ecosystem back to the onshore laboratory intact, and bring back the mud, water, organisms, microorganisms, ecosystems, combustible ice, etc. in the cold spring ecosystem in a 'fidelity' way." In addition to ensuring that the temperature and pressure in this process remain constant, after moving to the onshore laboratory, the laboratory will also simulate the low-temperature and high-pressure environment of the deep sea, so as to cultivate and observe the cold seep ecosystem for a long time. ”
Zhang Xin introduced that after the cold spring ecosystem was moved to the fidelity simulation laboratory, the experimenters could change the overall environment of the laboratory to observe where the limits of the cold spring ecosystem were. For example, increasing the methane level to a very high level, or decreasing it to a very low level, or changing the pH value of the water, changing the temperature, etc., to see how these changes in the external environment will affect the cold seep ecosystem in the laboratory. "Whether it can withstand this change, and to what extent, is very important for us to exploit and utilize resources such as combustible ice."
Feng Jingchun, chief technologist of the cold seep device, introduced that the fidelity score is mainly divided into two parts: the cold seep capsule and the combustible ice capsule, among which, the water body of the cold seep capsule is 6 meters high, and the interior of the combustible ice capsule is 0.0 meters high.
Submarine laboratories are divided into groups
Several life support technologies are similar to those of the space station
The sub-seabed laboratory is mainly composed of a laboratory that can be stationed in the deep sea for a long time. The interior of the submarine laboratory is composed of 5 titanium alloy pressure-resistant shells connected in series, with a maximum working depth of 0 meters, a displacement of about 0 tons, and a maximum of 0 personnel (0 pilots, 0 scientific researchers). In addition, the submarine laboratory is also equipped with a battery compartment, an in-situ observation cabin and a wet-dry conversion module. These 0 tandem spheres have different functions, including a scientific experiment cabin, a navigation and operation control cabin, a multi-functional detection cabin, a personnel living cabin, an electric power and auxiliary engine room.
The reporter learned that previously, in order to achieve a maximum depth of 2000 meters on the seabed for a long time, researchers have done a lot of experimental verification, and have broken through the preparation of titanium alloy large-scale materials, high-precision forming of large titanium alloy spherical shells, efficient and reliable welding of titanium alloy thick plates and other key technologies, and verified the structural safety and manufacturing process of these spheres.
The subsea lab is also equipped with multiple battery bay shells, and lithium-ion batteries in the battery bay will provide power and power to the laboratory. Long-term residence in the deep sea puts forward high requirements for the performance and safety of lithium batteries. At present, the wet pressure-tolerant lithium-ion battery modules planned to be used in the submarine laboratory have been verified by safe charging and discharging experiments in the Deep Sea Warrior and Struggler.
In order to ensure that scientific researchers can escape quickly in an emergency environment, the submarine laboratory has formulated a multiple, adequate and systematic emergency rescue plan. For example, there is an emergency escape chamber above the submarine laboratory, the escape chamber can carry 3 people, in a confined environment, this escape chamber can provide no less than 0 hours of air, after the personnel escape to the sea, the escape chamber is also prepared with 0 days of fresh water and food, so that they can wait for rescue.
“在這個海底實驗室內，供氧、供水、二氧化碳消除方案等相關的生命支持系統均借鑒了潛艇和空間站的相關技術，它也可以類比作一個海底‘空間站’。”張鑫說，“冷泉生態系統最早發現於20世紀70年代的墨西哥灣，在沒有陽光的深海，它顛覆了‘萬物生長靠太陽’的一般認知，這個系統主要依靠海底的甲烷、硫化氫等物質提供能量。它是如何形成，又是如何運作的，國際上雖然有很多科學家都在開展研究工作，但因缺乏深海原位實驗室，科學家一直無法掌握其形成過程與機制，因此，冷泉裝置才必須建立這一海底實驗室，方便科學家原位進行觀察。”
"In the future, in this undersea laboratory, we can not only arrange scientists to work on the seabed, but also arrange some scientific experiments that are completely controlled by machines, and scientists only need to go to the seabed regularly to observe the progress of the experiment." Zhang Xin said that the current maximum working depth of the submarine laboratory is 1800 meters, while in the South China Sea, the known depth of the cold seep area is between 0 and 0 meters, "The submarine laboratory is mobile, and it can be deployed in different locations according to the needs of the experiment." Therefore, this mobile submarine laboratory can achieve basic coverage of submarine cold seeps in the South China Sea. ”
Guarantee support is divided into general
Surface support for the mother ship to carry and receive
The support is mainly composed of two parts: the surface support mother ship, the R&D and the intelligent management center. The surface support mother ship has the functions of submarine laboratory, marine transportation and release, comprehensive surface and underwater support, and personnel emergency rescue. The R&D and intelligent management center mainly includes scientific data and sample service center, intelligent dispatch center, etc. Responsible for the daily operation and maintenance management of cold spring equipment, remote command when going to sea, etc.
Zhang Xin introduced that at sea, the submarine laboratory and the support mother ship located on the sea surface rely on each other and are connected with each other, and the mother ship can carry the submarine laboratory to the relevant location, and then the laboratory will be lowered to the bottom of the sea to realize the collection and release of the submarine laboratory.
When a subsea lab needs to stay in situ for a long time, the subsea lab can recharge underwater and can transport back scientists and key samples by a manned submersible. "The mothership is actually a laboratory, and there are many experiments that can be brought back to the ship to do first, such as the signature markers and gene editing of some cold spring organisms."
Cold seep units are used in a wide range of applications
From the point of view of scientific research, the cold seep device plays an important role in studying the origin of life on Earth. From an industrial point of view, the construction and operation of the cold spring plant will play a positive role in promoting the development of industries such as the industrialization of combustible ice, the utilization of marine biological resources, and the manufacturing of marine equipment, and can greatly enhance China's deep-sea scientific and technological innovation capabilities. For example, the cold seep device can help humans grasp the environmental changes and ecological effects of combustible ice before, during and after mining, and help the green development and utilization of combustible ice. The cold spring device will deeply reveal the biological carbon sequestration mechanism of chemical energy synthesis, screen high-efficiency strains, and help achieve the "double carbon" goal.
In addition, the experimental technology of deep-sea in-situ long-term manned residence can be applied to the construction of deep-sea residence equipment of different lineages, and will be widely used in the development of deep-sea oil and gas, iron-manganese nodules and other mineral resources in the future.
Feng Jingchun introduced that the cold spring device involves cutting-edge research in many fields such as the origin of life, offshore equipment, submarine energy, big data, and environmental ecology. In the future, Guangzhou, as an important carrier of international scientific and technological innovation, will also use the cold spring device to carry out relevant international major scientific projects, and invite top international scientists to discover and solve related scientific problems.
Entering the undersea laboratory has to pass the psychological barrier
Submarine laboratories are like space stations, so what preparations do researchers need to make to enter the submarine laboratory, and do they need to go through special training?
According to Feng Jingchun, at present, represented by the "Jiaolong", China's manned deep diving technology has been very mature. The living environment in the submarine laboratory is at room temperature, atmospheric pressure and dry, which is no different from that of ordinary onshore laboratories, except that the space will be narrower than that of onshore laboratories.
At the bottom of the sea, scientists don't need to worry about radiation damage like astronauts, and they don't have to worry about weightlessness. "For scientists, what they need is psychological training, and we will also have corresponding training, and after receiving relevant psychological training, they can generally achieve long-term residence on the seabed." Feng Jingchun said.
What is a cold spring? Methane-blessed ecosystems
"Cold seeps" refer to the activity of gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide beneath the seafloor that overflow into seawater driven by changes in geological structure or pressure. The cold seep ecosystem refers to the use of chemical substances seeped out by marine organisms as energy for chemical energy synthesis, and develops into a unique ecosystem in the dark world of the seabed, with physical and chemical characteristics such as darkness, high pressure, and low oxygen, and uses the methane decomposed by combustible ice as the source element, which is endlessly thriving through chemoenergy synthesis, and is known as the "deep-sea oasis". Therefore, there is a strong coupling relationship between the cold seep ecosystem and the seafloor combustible ice.
Cold seeps provide carbon sources and energy for chemoautotrophs, maintain the cold seep biota based on chemoautotrophs as the food chain, and become primary producers. On this basis, tubular worms, clams, mussels, crustaceans, polychaetes, starfish, sea urchins, crabs, cold-water corals, fish and other metazoans are bred to form a complete set of deep-sea ecosystems based on chemonutrients. Currently, scientists have found more than 600 species of organisms in the cold seep ecosystem.
The cold spring ecosystem carries the code of the carbon cycle in the deep part of the earth, and is a strategic place to study the adaptation mechanism of life in extreme environments and explore new biological resources. The study of cold seep ecosystem is the best entry point for the green development of deep-sea resources such as combustible ice and deep-sea scientific research. The cold seep device will provide new perspectives and technical means for the study of cold seep ecosystems, accelerate the progress of scientific research in related fields, and set a new benchmark for research in the field of marine science and technology.
Scientists understand the frontier
Zhao Bin, director of science and technology of the Science and Technology Department of Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey: Guangzhou has twice tried to mine combustible ice
The combustible ice reserves in the South China Sea are very abundant, and the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey has successfully completed two rounds of combustible ice test mining in the South China Sea in 2020 and 0 years.
Zhao Bin, director of science and technology of the Science and Technology Department of Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, said that the first round of trial production in 12 years created two world records for the duration of trial production and total gas production, and the second round of trial production set a new world record for average daily gas production and total gas production. This has further enhanced China's international "leading" position in the field of combustible ice science and technology innovation, formed 0 key technologies, developed 0 core equipment, and initially built a deep-sea combustible ice exploration and development technology and equipment system.
"Our goal is to achieve industrial mining of combustible ice as soon as possible," Zhao said. The 2020-year trial production is an exploratory vertical well mining, and the 0-year trial production is an experimental horizontal well mining, and in the next step, our trial production will explore a new model, which is also an important step before the industrialization of combustible ice. ”
Text/Wu Wei
(Guangzhou Daily)