Popular Science reported that Jidong Development Group (JDG) unveiled the modular designs at a press conference, saying the biggest station could be 900 metres long and 120m wide, which would displace 1.5m tons.

One illustration showed smaller islands locked together to reach 2km in length.

They would travel at speeds of up to 18km per hour.

The first would be for a deep sea support project in the South China Sea.

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