SHINKAI 6500 < Research Vessels and Vehicles < Research Vessels, Facilities and Equipment < About JAMSTEC

SHINKAI 6500 is a manned submersible that can dive up to the depth of 6,500m, outperforming other manned research vehicle all over the world today. In 1990, SHINKAI 6500 began the mission to study topography and geology of the seafloor as well as organisms in the deep sea at Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean in addition to Japan Sea., and exceeded the 1000th dive in 2007.

Ascertain Movements within the Earth's Interior: Investigate movements within the Earth's interior, such as large earthquakes, plate subduction, and mantle plume activity, and clarify the way in which the Earth was formed.
Clarify the Evolution of Living Organisms: Investigations of the previously unexplored deep sea have so far revealed a wide range of extremely unique biological communities and chemosynthetic ecosystems. Chemosynthetic ecosystems are ecosystems that have virtually no dependence on the Sun's energy in which chemosynthetic bacteria produce organic materials using substances such as hydrogen sulfide and methane in seawater expelled from the interior part of the Earth as their energy source. It is hoped that studying these deep-sea ecosystems will help to clarify the origins and evolutionary processes of living organisms.
Utilization and Conservation of Deep-Sea Organisms: In order to solve future issues faced by the human, such as global food issues, research into the sustainable use of deep-sea biological resources and the gene resources of deep-sea organisms, which feature a diverse range of physiologies, is required.
Resolve Thermal and Material Cycles: The history of global environmental changes, including climatic variations and the intensification and attenuation of tidal currents, is recorded in the various types of sediment found on the seafloor. SHINKAI 6500 will be used to collect samples of such sediments for analysis.
Heat and materials expelled as a result of hydrothermal activity on the seafloor have had a definite impact on the global environment. Understanding hydrothermal systems in the deep sea will lead to further understanding of global environmental changes.

Activities within the pressure hull

View port of methacrylate resin

SHINKAI 6500 in the deep sea

Pressure hull: The inhabitable space inside SHINKAI 6500 is contained within a pressure hull that has an internal diameter of 2.0 m. This space can accommodate two pilots and one researcher when conducting research surveys. Various types of instruments are also installed in the pressure hull making the inhabitable area smaller than its measurements indicate.
The 73.5 mm thick hull is constructed from a strong, light-weight titanium alloy. Pressure at a depth of 6,500 m reaches around 680 atmospheres, and this means that even a slight warping of the hull can lead to structural collapse. The hull has therefore been constructed to be as close to spherical as possible, with a maximum discrepancy in hull diameter of 0.5 mm at any point on its surface.
Buoyant material: The buoyant material must be less dense than seawater, and at the same time must be able to withstand a high level of water pressure.
SHINKAI 6500 uses a buoyant material known as syntactic foam. Syntactic foam is produced by embedding hollow glass spheres (mainly two kinds including one having the diameter of 40 to 44 micrometer, and the other having the diameter of 88 to 105 micrometer) into high strength epoxy resin which guarantee sufficient strength and buoyancy even at the higher water pressure.
Manipulator: The manipulator is used to collect samples of organisms and rocks on the seafloor. It can lift about 100 kg material in the water.
View ports: SHINKAI 6500 features three view ports, one at the front, and each one side of the vehicle. Pressure hull may deform by the high water pressure even though it has a robust construction. Highly transparent methacryl resin is used for the view ports to comply with the possible deformation. Composed of two 7 cm thick resin panels bonded has a convex shape with a total thickness of 14 cm.
Main battery: SHINKAI 6500 originally employed silver oxide/zinc batteries, but replaced with lithium ion batteries in 2004. The lithium ion batteries having the longer shelf life improved the cost-performance by down-sizing the battery and by providing the maintenance-free performance.
Search lights: Virtually no sunlight reaches a depth of 200 m, making the deep sea absolutely pitch black environment. Each search light on SHINKAI 6500 has about as bright as three or four powerful car headlights combined. Even all of these seven search lights provides a visual range of around 10 m even in the favorable seawater condition without suspending materials such as marine snow.

0700 hours	Operations commence
0830 hours	Launched
0900 hours	Dive commences	The vehicle descends at a rate of 40 m per minute, and therefore takes around 2 1/2 hours to reach a maximum depth of 6,500 m.
1130 hours	Arrival at seafloor, survey commences	The vehicle operates for 8 hours per day including descents and ascents. The amount of time available for performing surveys at the bottom of the ocean therefore depends on descent and ascent times. The shallower the dive, the more time there is available for conducting surveys.
1430 hours	Depart for the surface	The vehicle ascends at the same rate as it descends, and therefore takes around 2 1/2 hours to reach the surface.
1700 hours	Arrival at surface, vessel recovered by support ship	Batteries are charged overnight to prepare for the following day's operations.

Digital Acoustic Image Transmission System

Length	9.5 m
Beam	2.7 m
Height	3.2 m
Weight in air	26.7 tons
Maximum operation depth	6,500 m
Accommodation	3 (2 pilots, 1 researcher)
Pressure hull diameter	Φ2.0 m
Normal dive duration	8 hours
Life support duration	129 hours
Payload	150 kg (in air)
Maximum speed	2.5 knots
Instruments Installed	2 CCD color TV cameras
	1 CTDO (salinity, water temperature, pressure gauge, dissolved oxygen)
	1 digital camera
	1 seawater thermometer
	2 manipulators (7 degrees of freedom)
	2 mobile sample baskets
	Other navigational devices