China Wants to Build an Undersea Laboratory
The Chinese government wants to build a large, state of the art facility. Underwater. Bloomberg reports that Chinese officials are fast tracking a plan to build a large underwater platform in the South China Sea. It would be similar to a space station, only this one would be at the bottom of the ocean floor, some 3,000 meters or about 10,000 feet beneath the waves. Why build a Sea Lab? It's not because they think it's better where it's wetter.
According to Chinese officials, the plan is to build a large, movable facility in an effort to search for valuable minerals and rare earth metals. For the last several years, rare earth metals have played an important part in China's economic growth. Our computers and electronics require these materials and demand is high. But not everyone is sure that the proposed sea lab would have much luck mining more of them. According to the American Security Project, estimates of rare earth metals in the region are unreliable. They may be plentiful under the ocean floor or it might be a bust. It may turn out that the sea lab focuses more on harvesting oil and natural gas instead. Another possibility is that the facility will serve in some military capacity. Chinese officials deny that a military application is the primary purpose for the sea lab but have said that it could perform some military functions in addition to mining operations.
And since the South China Sea is a disputed area that numerous countries wish to access, an underwater lab might be just the thing China needs to secure a claim. It's unlikely such a lab would be able to move about undetected. Instead, it might serve as a deterrent -- a threat that says back off, this is mine. Supporting this idea is the fact that China revised passports in 2012 to show a map of China's borders, which included areas that are internationally disputed. And there have been incidents in the region that point to China interfering with the activities of other nations, though the Chinese government denies this was done intentionally. Whatever the motivation, if China builds an underwater lab it won't be the first.
The famous scientist Jacques Cousteau oversaw the construction and deployment of three underwater habitats in the 1960s. Then there's Aquarius, a lab off the Florida Keys that concentrates on marine biology research. You can even book a night's stay at a former sea lab -- what used to be the La Chalupa Research Laboratory is now the Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida. Whether China will actually build a large underwater lab remains to be seen.
According to Chinese officials, the plan is to build a large, movable facility in an effort to search for valuable minerals and rare earth metals. For the last several years, rare earth metals have played an important part in China's economic growth. Our computers and electronics require these materials and demand is high. But not everyone is sure that the proposed sea lab would have much luck mining more of them. According to the American Security Project, estimates of rare earth metals in the region are unreliable. They may be plentiful under the ocean floor or it might be a bust. It may turn out that the sea lab focuses more on harvesting oil and natural gas instead. Another possibility is that the facility will serve in some military capacity. Chinese officials deny that a military application is the primary purpose for the sea lab but have said that it could perform some military functions in addition to mining operations.
And since the South China Sea is a disputed area that numerous countries wish to access, an underwater lab might be just the thing China needs to secure a claim. It's unlikely such a lab would be able to move about undetected. Instead, it might serve as a deterrent -- a threat that says back off, this is mine. Supporting this idea is the fact that China revised passports in 2012 to show a map of China's borders, which included areas that are internationally disputed. And there have been incidents in the region that point to China interfering with the activities of other nations, though the Chinese government denies this was done intentionally. Whatever the motivation, if China builds an underwater lab it won't be the first.
The famous scientist Jacques Cousteau oversaw the construction and deployment of three underwater habitats in the 1960s. Then there's Aquarius, a lab off the Florida Keys that concentrates on marine biology research. You can even book a night's stay at a former sea lab -- what used to be the La Chalupa Research Laboratory is now the Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida. Whether China will actually build a large underwater lab remains to be seen.
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