So this ship exists, but the funding for the expeditions have been cancelled from the NSF (US).
The wrinkle at the end seems to posit the China challenge - and possibly that's for the best as the US seems to have given up on non-military seafaring ventures.
Right in the middle of the decade of ocean science no less
Related: Dismantling the Ship That Drilled for the Ocean's Deepest Secrets
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/science/drilling-ship-sci...
https://archive.is/3UMcU
(via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41360598, but no comments there)