What sort of contemporary deep submersibles have been built in recent years?
In 1987 a Finnish company, Rauma Oceanics, built the Mir 1 & Mir 2 for the Russian Academy of Sciences. These are the submersible that were used to film the Titanic. The Mirs cost about $25 million each and have a 6,000 meter depth rating. Just before the Mirs were delivered the Japanese completed the $60 + million Shinkai 6500, which with a depth rating of 6500 meters is the deepest diving manned submersible today. A few years ago an American company built two DR1002s which have spherical transparent pressure hulls and a depth rating of 1000 meters. These two submersibles cost $1.7 million each and are used by Canal Plus, the French television group. Last year a French company completed the second Remora, a 2-passenger, 600 meter capable submersible that also has a transparent spherical acrylic pressure hull. The sub was delivered to the Greek Dept. of Antiquities in 1999.
