Chikyū

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Chikyū
History
Japan
Name: Chikyū (地球; ちきゅう)
Namesake: Japanese word for "Earth"
Owner: CDEX
Operator: CDEX
Port of registry: Yokosuka
Builder: Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Cost: 60 billion yen
Laid down: 25 April 2001
Launched: 18 January 2002
Acquired: 29 July 2005
Homeport: Yokosuka, Kanagawa
Identification: IMO number: 9234044
MMSI number: 432522000
Callsign: JRAJ

General characteristics [1]

Class and type: NK (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai)
Type: Ocean-going Drilling Vessel
Displacement: 57,087 tons
Length: 210 m (690 ft)
Beam: 38 m (125 ft)
Height: 130 m (430 ft)
Draft: 9.2 m (30 ft)
Depth: 16.2 m
Propulsion: 1 × 2,550kW side thruster
6 × 4,100kW azimuth thrusters

Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)

Range: 14,800 nmi (27,400 km; 17,000 mi)
Complement: 200
Crew: 100

Chikyū (地球; ちきゅう) is a Japanese scientific drilling ship built for the Integrated Ocean
Drilling Program (IODP). The vessel is designed to ultimately drill seven kilometres beneath the
seabed,[needs update] where the Earth's crust is much thinner, and into the Earth's mantle, deeper
than any other hole drilled in the ocean thus far.

While the planned depth of the hole is significantly less than the Russian Kola Superdeep
Borehole (which reached 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) depth on land), the scientific results are
expected to be much more interesting since the regions targeted by Chikyū include some of the
most seismically-active regions of the world. Other deep holes have been drilled by the drill ship
JOIDES Resolution during the Deep Sea Drilling Project and the Ocean Drilling Program.

Contents
 1 Operation
 2 Design
 3 History
 4 World record
 5 In popular culture
 6 See also
 7 References
 8 External links

Operation
The Japanese part of the IODP program is called Chikyū Hakken (地球発見 Chikyū Hakken),
Japanese for "Earth Discovery". Chikyū is operated by the Centre for Deep Earth Research
(CDEX), a subdivision of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
(JAMSTEC). JAMSTEC also operates the DSV Shinkai, Earth Simulator supercomputer and
other marine scientific research projects. CDEX is responsible for the services to support
activities including on-board staffing, data management for core samples and logging;
implements engineering site surveys; and conducts engineering developments. CDEX contracts
with the Mantle Quest Japan Company for the navigation of the ship.

The Chikyū Hakken program is part of an international scientific collaborative effort with
scientists from the United States, ECORD, a consortium consisting of several European countries
and Canada, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand (ANZIC), and India.

Design
D/V Chikyū was built by the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and launched on January 18,
2002 in Nagasaki, Nagasaki.[2] The ship was outfitted by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and
delivered to JAMSTEC on July 29, 2005.[3]

The hull of the ship is 210 meters long, 38 meters in width, 16.2 meters high, and has an
approximate gross tonnage of about 57,000 tons. The ship has a draft of 9.2 meters and a
maximum cruising speed of 12 knots. The amidships derrick is 121 m above sea level, and the
top drive has a lifting capacity of 1,000 tons. Its complement of 150 crew are divided between
100 operators and 50 science personnel, with at sea crew changes handled by helicopter
transfer.[citation needed]

Key innovations include a GPS system and six adjustable computer controlled azimuth thrusters
(3.8 meters in diameter) that enable precise positioning to maintain a stable platform during deep
water drilling. The maximum drilling water depth for riser drilling is 2,500 meters and can
support a drill string up to 10,000 meters long.[citation needed]

The helipad can serve very large helicopters transporting as many as 30 persons per landing.[4]

History
The D/V Chikyū was built for deep-sea geological scientific research, which now includes not
only research of earthquake-generating zones in the Earth's crust but also hydrothermal vents[5]
and subsea methane hydrate research.[4]

On November 16, 2007 Chikyū began drilling the NanTroSEIZE transect as planned, reaching
1,400 meters at the site of a future deep subsea floor observatory. The first stage of four
NanTroSEIZE Stages was completed in February 2008. The whole project was envisioned to be
completed by 2012.[6]

The ship was damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The
ship was moored 300 m off the coast of Hachinohe, Aomori, but was cut loose by the tsunami
and collided with a pier of Hachinohe port. One of the six stabilizers was damaged and a 1.5
meter hole was made in the bottom. Local preliminary school children who were visiting the ship
at the time of the earthquake spent one night on board and were rescued by Japan Self-Defense
Forces helicopters next day. The ship was repaired at a dock in Shingū, Wakayama and returned
to service in June 2011.[7]

World record
According to the IODP, on 27 April 2012, Chikyū drilled to a depth of 7,740 meters (25,400 feet)
below sea level, setting a new world record for deep-sea drilling. This record has since been
surpassed by the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling unit, operating on the
Tiber prospect in the Mississippi Canyon Field, United States Gulf of Mexico, when it achieved
a world record for total length for a vertical drilling string of 10,062 m (33,011 ft).[8] The
previous record was held by the U.S. vessel Glomar Challenger, which in 1978 drilled to 7,049.5
meters (23,130 feet) below sea level in the Mariana Trench.[9] On 6 September 2012 Scientific
deep sea drilling vessel Chikyū set a new world record by drilling down and obtaining rock
samples from deeper than 2,111 meters below the seafloor off the Shimokita Peninsula of Japan
in the northwest Pacific Ocean. In addition, the 27 April 2012 drilling set a record for the depth
of water for drilling of 6960 m. That record still stands.