KAIKO

KAIKO

Kaikō (海溝?, "Ocean Trench") was a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) built by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) for exploration of the deep sea. Kaikō was the second of only four vessels ever to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep, as of 2010. Between 1995 and 2003, this 10.6 ton unmanned submersible conducted more than 250 dives, collecting 350 biological species (including 180 different bacteria), some of which could prove to be useful in medical and industrial applications. On 29 May 2003, Kaikō was lost at sea off the coast of Shikoku Island during Typhoon Chan-Hom, when a secondary cable connecting it to its launcher at the ocean surface broke.

Another ROV, Kaikō7000II, served as the replacement for Kaikō until 2007. At that time, JAMSTEC researchers began sea trials for the permanent replacement ROV, ABISMO (Automatic Bottom Inspection and Sampling Mobile). ABISMO is currently one of only three ROVs rated to 11,000-meters (the other two being Nereus, built and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Deepsea Challenger, piloted by director James Cameron).