India to deploy deep-sea probe Samudrayaan carrying 3 people

New Delhi: India has plans to explore Ocean depths and has developed an under-water-probe, the Samudrayaan Mission, officials informed. India will send three people 6 km deep into the water, IANS reported.

Officials informed that the mission is the beginning of India venturing into the era of a "Blue Economy", which is to have a pivotal role in the building of its economy in the coming years.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, shared the details of the project and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to the Deep Sea Mission in his Independence Day address in two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022.

He elaborated that a vehicle called MATSYA will carry three persons to a depth of 6,000 meters for the exploration of marine resources like minerals. This mission, he said, is expected to be realised in the next three years.

Singh added that MATSYA 6000 is being designed and developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

"It has an endurance of 12 hours under normal operation and 96 hours in case of emergency for human safety."

"The design of the vehicle is completed, and the realisation of various components of the vehicle is in progress. Manned submersible facilitates the direct observation by the human in the deep ocean in exploring mineral resources rich in nickel, cobalt, rare earths, manganese etc., and collection of samples, which can be used for analysis," said the Minister.

The Minister added that apart from the scientific research and technological empowerment as the benefits, the mission has immediate spin-offs in the form of underwater engineering innovations in asset inspection, tourism and promotion of ocean literacy.

"Development of 6,000m-depth rated Integrated Mining Machine and unmanned vehicles (tethered and automated) to explore deep-sea resources and biodiversity assessment," Singh said.

The Centre had approved the Deep Ocean Mission at a total budget of Rs 4,077 crore for five years.

The estimated cost for the first phase for the three years (2021-2024) is Rs 2,823.4 crore.

India has a unique maritime position, a 7,517 km long coastline, which is home to nine coastal states and 1,382 islands.

The mission has the target to enhance the Union government's vision of 'New India', which is supposed to highlight the blue economy as one of the ten main dimensions of growth.