Chinese manned submersible Jiaolong will officially start conducting scientific missions in June, its chief designer said on Monday.

The Jiaolong manned submersible [file photo]

Xi Jinan, also a researcher with the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.(CHIC), said at a speech in Shanghai that the sub will spend nearly five months conducting research each year for the following five years.

In 2013, it will carry out scientific investigations of poly nodules at depths of 5,300 meters in the northeast Pacific Ocean, and gather information from sulfide mine sites in the southwest Indian Ocean.

It will also penetrate unexplored areas to provide technical materials for contracts to be approved by international seabed authorities.

The CHIC, which built the sub, will continue to solicit and train oceanauts and push forward research on support facilities such as building on-sea support bases and developing more domestically made spare parts.

Jiaolong completed a record dive of 7,062 meters in the Marian Trench in the Pacific Ocean in June 2012, which enabled China to join the ranks of deep-seafaring countries.

The United States, Japan, France and Russia currently lead the world in the development of deep-sea exploration technology, each possessing their own submersibles and support bases.