Specialists from the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have estimated the cost of restoring the "Mir" deep-sea vehicles at approximately 20 billion rubles. This was reported in an interview by the scientific director of the "Ecology of Seas and Oceans" department of the institute, Academician Mikhail Flint.
The "Mir" vehicles played a colossal role in the study of the World Ocean and the performance of deep-sea technical tasks. Now it is advisable not to replace the "Mir" vehicles, but to restore them. This is many times cheaper and many times faster than creating new vessels of a similar class.
The vehicles are currently in storage. However, their main structural elements (spheres) are in good condition and require only certification. The remaining systems (hydraulics, batteries and manipulators) can be easily modernized or replaced.
The vessel "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh" - the carrier of deep-sea vehicles - also needs renovation. Putting them into operation will allow Russia to restore its priority in research at depths of up to 6,000 meters, which covers more than 98% of the World Ocean area.
There was always a huge international waiting list for the "Mir" dives. Their restoration will pay off many times over, as deep-sea research with a person on board a submersible opens up qualitatively new opportunities and a level of scientific work.
Technical characteristics of the "Mir" deep-sea vehicle:
- Crew - 3 people (engineer, pilot, scientist).
- Underwater speed - 5 knots (9.26 km/h).
- Weight - 18.6 tons.
- Maximum immersion depth - 6500 m.
- Length - 7.8 m.
- Width - 3.8.
Earlierwww1.ru reported that the Russian autonomous underwater drone TurtleROV2has been released into mass production.
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