About Samudrayaan Project:
- It is India’s first manned mission to explore the deep ocean.
- It is designed to study the deep ocean resources and conduct biodiversity assessments as well.
- The mission will not disturb the ecosystem as the submersible is used solely for exploration purposes.
- The project is part of the larger Deep Ocean Mission, which supports the Central Government’s Blue Economy policy.
- The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is the nodal ministry to implement this multi-institutional ambitious mission.
What is MATSYA 6000?
- It is a manned submersible vehicledeveloped by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai.
- It was developed under the Samudrayaan mission to facilitate humans in the deep ocean in exploring mineral resources.
- It is designed with the capability of operating in the deep sea for 12 hours while in case of emergency, it can also operate up to 96 hours with all the necessary measures for human safety.
- Expected to be launched in 2024-25, it would make India only one among six countries (US, Russia, Japan, France, and China) to have piloted a crewed under-sea expedition beyond 5,000 metres.
Key Facts about Deep Ocean Mission:
- It is a mission-mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
- It is a high-level multi-ministerial, multi-disciplinary programme for a better understanding of the deep sea living and non-living resources of the Indian Ocean.
- It will aid in India’s efforts to attain the Blue Economy status.
- It aims to develop technologies to harness living and non-living resources from the deep oceans.
- The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional Mission.
- The estimated cost of the Mission will be 4077 crores for a period of 5 years (2021-26) to be implemented in a phase-wise manner.
- The Mission consists of six major components:
- Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining and Manned Submersible and Underwater Robotics;
- Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services;
- Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity;
- Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration;
- Energy and freshwater from the Ocean;
- Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology;
