7000m Operable Deep-Sea ROV System, “KAIKO7000”

On May 29, 2003, the KAIKO’s secondary cable snapped, and the KAIKO’s vehicle has been missing. JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) has lost a method to survey more than 6,500m deep areas where submersible “Shinkai6500” cannot reach. JAMSTEC decided to remodel the vehicle of UROV7K system instead of the lost vehicle in order to continue the scientific activities. This system is called “KAIKO7000” system. After the accident, safety measures of the KAIKO system must be reconsidered in order to improve the safety measures of the KAIKO7000 system. The KAIKO7000 system was finished remodeling in March 2004, and the sea trials have been started in April 2004. Then, we succeeded in the maximum operation depth test, which was reached at a depth of 7031 m. This paper describes on the development of the KAIKO7000 system.