The Indian Navy and the Ministry of Earth Science have joined hands to design and develop a ‘Deep Water Vehicle’ that would go as deep as 6000 meters to explore India’s sea resources under the “Deep Water Mission” project.
The Deep Ocean Mission is a mission mode project launched by the Modi Government to support India’s Blue Economy initiatives that have the potential to exponentially grow the country’s Blue economy, said a senior officer of the Ministry of Earth Science.
“Deep Ocean Mission” is specially designed to explore India’s deep ocean resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources. It will have an important bearing on India’s future economy,” the Ministry of Earth Science stated.
A preliminary design of the manned submersible MATSYA 6000 is already complete and it is being ‘reviewed’ by various organizations including ISRO, IITM, and DRDO. The vehicle is designed to carry 3 people to a depth of 6000 meters in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools, the Ministry said.
The Deepwater vehicle would facilitate deep ocean exploration of the non-living resources mainly polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1000 and 5500 meters. The Modi Government had approved the Deep Ocean Mission in June, 2021 at a total budget of Rs. 4077 Crore for 5 years.
The Mission is a multi-ministerial, multi-disciplinary programme with an emphasis on the development of deep-sea technology that includes the development of manned Submersible rated for 6000-meter water depth along with technologies for deep-sea mining, exploration of deep-sea mineral resources and marine biodiversity, acquisition of a research vessel for ocean exploration, deep-sea observations, and capacity building in Marine Biology.