BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have successfully launched a detector prototype for the High-energy Underwater Neutrino Telescope (HUNT) into the South China Sea, the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Wednesday.

The institute said the scientific research ship Tansuo-3 and the manned submersible Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior) helped precisely deploy the detectors at a predetermined location 1,600 meters below sea level.

According to the IHEP, the detectors were also successfully connected to China's undersea scientific observation network, a major national scientific and technological infrastructure.

Neutrinos are highly penetrating particles that carry primordial information. Thus, they are an effective tool for studying the origins of high-energy cosmic rays and the evolution of celestial bodies.

Chinese scientists have proposed the next-generation HUNT as a large-scale scientific device expected to lead the development of neutrino astronomy. The South China Sea is the only viable site for the telescope in China, which will cover approximately 600 square kilometers of sea area.

A team of researchers from the IHEP, Ocean University of China, the Institute of Acoustics of the CAS, and other institutions are carrying out the project. ■