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Japan gives up search for deep sea probe
Tokyo, July 05: Researchers will abandon the search for the world`s deepest diving submarine, which disappeared in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan, reports said.
Tokyo, July 05: Researchers will abandon the search for the world's deepest diving submarine, which disappeared in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan, reports said.
The Japan Marine Science and Technology Center gave up looking for the Kaiko, the only submarine that has visited the ocean's deepest point at 10,911 meters, on the advice of specialists, 'Kyodo News' reported.
The experts told the center the only way to look for the probe would be to scour the seabed with sonar, but they added there was no way of narrowing down the area of the search, the agency said.
The probe disappeared on May 29 while it was conducting earthquake research on the sea floor off southern Japan during a typhoon.
Officials at the marine center and the science and education ministry were unavailable for comment today.
Experts said the missing probe was an enormous loss for science. Equipped with two robot arms and four television cameras, the Kaiko is the world's only probe capable of diving deeper than seven kilometers.
The submarine has taken samples of new bacteria that Japanese researchers are using to develop new medicine. It has also studied shifts in deep sea crusts and analyzed deep sea life forms that may hold insights into life on other planets.
Bureau Report
The experts told the center the only way to look for the probe would be to scour the seabed with sonar, but they added there was no way of narrowing down the area of the search, the agency said.
The probe disappeared on May 29 while it was conducting earthquake research on the sea floor off southern Japan during a typhoon.
Officials at the marine center and the science and education ministry were unavailable for comment today.
Experts said the missing probe was an enormous loss for science. Equipped with two robot arms and four television cameras, the Kaiko is the world's only probe capable of diving deeper than seven kilometers.
The submarine has taken samples of new bacteria that Japanese researchers are using to develop new medicine. It has also studied shifts in deep sea crusts and analyzed deep sea life forms that may hold insights into life on other planets.
Bureau Report