Dives set for deep-sea mission

China's manned submersible, Jiaolong, will conduct a dive in the Mariana Trench on Tuesday.

Its mother ship, Xiangyanghong 09, set sail last week for the Yap and Mariana trenches, with the Jiaolong and 96 scientists aboard.

The ship arrived in the Mariana Trench area on Monday and started testing water temperature, salinity and depth for Tuesday's dive. Ten dives are planned for the expedition. The first is expected to reach a depth of 4,800 meters and last about nine hours.