Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, April 28, Title: Yang Shenshen: Deep sea dreamer

He Leijing, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

"The depth of the ocean is limited, but our technological pursuit of exploring the ocean has no end." After the routine operation of China's latest manned submersible, the Endeavor, Yang Shenshen devoted himself to the research and development of the next generation submersible.

"Previously, manned submersibles could only look out through a very small observation window. This time, it is expected to achieve 360 degree full visibility and innovative use of plexiglass." Yang Shenshen, director of the Underwater Engineering Research and Development Department of China Ship Science Research Center, was excited when he told reporters about the "spoiler". He said that in the future, scientists, archaeologists and ordinary tourists will all be able to realize the "say it and go" underwater tour.

The picture shows Yang Shenshen working with the manned submersible.

After graduating with a master's degree in 2005, Yang Shenshen joined the research and development team of the Jiaolong manned submersible.

"I remember the first time I faced the sea, I was nervous and afraid," Yang Shenshen said. The "post-80s" who grew up in the inland never imagined that the deep sea would become a stage for their lifelong dreams.

Over the years of dedicated research, he has not only become one of the core research and development members of the Jiaolong, Deep Sea Warrior and Endeavor manned submersibles, which are known as the "heavy weapons of great powers", but also become the academic leader in the field of electromechanical integration of manned submersibles in China.

With the sea facing the wind, Yang Shenshen traveled all over the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. He was at the test site at the historic moment when Jiaolong went down 7062 meters, Deep Sea Warrior went down 4534 meters, and Endeavor went down 10909 meters.

On November 10, 2020, the Endeavor successfully sat at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, reaching a depth of 10909 meters, creating a new record for China's manned deep diving and reaching the world's leading level. At that time, Yang Shenshen served as the Deputy Secretary of the Provisional Party Committee during the sea trial. He worked against the wind and rain until early in the morning, providing a solid guarantee for the "Endeavor" to successfully complete several 10000 meter deep dives.

In terms of technological innovation, he has pursued assiduously. In the development of the "Endeavor", he led the design team to overcome many key core technologies such as "high-capacity deep-sea energy system", "low-noise and efficient propulsion system", "integrated control hydraulic system", "automatic positioning and rapid isolation grounding detection system", and successfully realized the localization of many key materials or components.

What Yang Shenshen remembers deeply is the experience of tackling key problems of the "Deep Sea Warrior" battery. He and his team decided to develop lithium battery technology in the face of the problem of high use cost and low diving frequency of silver zinc battery. "When we were debugging, the performance of the lithium battery was not mature enough, and a failure occurred. It is understood that similar situations also occurred in foreign tests. We were very hesitant at one time to consider whether to replace a sound technical scheme." Yang Shenshen said that later he and his team were determined to challenge new technologies, and finally succeeded by further optimizing the scheme. The application of lithium battery pack has enabled the "Deep Sea Warrior" to dive nearly 100 times a year.

The picture shows Yang Shenshen (middle) busy working at the offshore test site.

"A bright moon covers nostalgia, two boats and a hundred armies battle horse ditch, innovation and exploration work together, and I can swim in the abyss of ten thousand meters." In addition to hard research, long voyage and deep dive, Yang Shenshen will write poems in the circle of friends to express his feelings, "this is a way to adjust the state of mind." He smiled.

However, Yang Shenshen took pains for pleasure and felt lucky.

"The personal struggle can be closely linked with the development needs of the industry and the country, which is the embodiment of the value and significance of life." Yang Shenshen said.