Mir 1 and Mir 2 are two identical Russian research submarines that were designed for use at great depths of several thousand meters. The small boats can carry up to three people, giving thema view of the deep sea through small portholes . Samples can also be collected with a gripper arm.
Both boats are stationed on board the Russian research ship Akademik Mstislaw Keldysch and, together with their carrier ship, belong to the PP Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Mir submarines were best known through the film Titanic , in which they can be seen during diving trips on the real wreck of the RMS Titanic at a depth of 3,803 meters. In order to finance the research work of the boats and the academy Mstislaw Keldysch , diving trips have been offered to interested private individuals for several years.
On August 2, 2007, Mir 1 rammed the Russian flag into the seabed below the geographic North Pole at a depth of 4,621 meters . With the ambitious expedition, Moscow wants to base its claim to almost 1.2 million square kilometers in the polar region - an area that is over three times the size of Germany . The aim of the expedition is to collect scientific evidence that the underwater mountains at the North Pole are connected to the Russian mainland. The Russian Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research St. Petersburg works closely with the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences in Kiel (IFM-GEOMAR). A joint dive from the research vessel Ivan Petrow was planned for September 2007 .
