ABOARD SHIP XIANGYANGHONG 09, June 5 -- China's manned submersible Jiaolong completed its second dive in the Yap Trench on Monday.
The dive began at 7:12 a.m. local time and reached the planned depth of 5,100 meters at 9:55 a.m., where scientists worked for three hours and eight minutes.
Jiaolong collected samples of rock, sediment, deep-sea life and sea water in this dive, and recorded images of the seafloor.
"Jiaolong has brought back precious samples for research," said Chen Xinhua, chief scientist of the expedition's third stage.
Jiaolong is scheduled to conduct three more dives in the trench.