• Events
• Point of View
• Multimedia

• Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
• Photo Gallery

• Working Day
• Visits within Russia

• International Visits
• Press Conferences

Mir deep submersible manned vehicles

print

Events / All about visit

Reference note

The Mir deep-water submersible manned vehicles were developed in 1987 and since then have contributed to over 35 deep ocean research expeditions all around the globe.

Currently, there are only four submersibles in the world able to dive to a maximum depth of 6,000 metres: two Russian vehicles, Mir-1 and Mir-2, one Japanese, the Shinkai, and one French, the Nautile.

Scientists and submarine specialists outside Russia agree that Mir is the best submersible ever created. With a high capacity power unit, both Mir vehicles can remain submerged for up to 24 hours while their two foreign counterparts, Shinkai and Nautile, can work underwater for a maximum of 8-10 hours. Equipped with an air-independent propulsion system and advanced streamline shape, the vehicle can develop a maximum underwater speed of 5 knots, while the other two are limited to 2 knots. The vehicle boasts compact size and high manoeuvrability and can be used for rugged bottom relief operations and on sunken ships while providing a high security safety margin.

In the past 40 days, specialists from the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology at the Russian Academy of Sciences have been using Mir-1 and Mir-2 vehicles for research of the water body and the bottom of Lake Baikal. There have been 41 submersions to the maximum depth of 1,614 metres to perform geological examinations of the underwater slopes and elevations and chemical analysis of the water and the biosphere.

Discovery of massive gas hydrate sources in the middle of the lake floor at about 1,400 metres became a research highlight. Further exploration in the area revealed a number of ridges made up of gas hydrates, which are ice-like compounds of natural gas and water that can endure low temperatures. One cubic metre of hydrate contains 160 cubic metres of methane. These recently discovered gas hydrate sources are a potentially inexhaustible resource for energy in the future.

Further explorations of Lake Baikal's gas hydrates will help to explain the process of gas hydrate accumulations on the lake floor and to develop theoretical procedures for their extraction. Research analysis and results will provide conclusions and forecasts for the future of the lake's environment.