New Delhi, Jan 12: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday said as a part of Samudrayaan Mission, undertaken by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, India aims to send human being 6000 meters below sea level.
Sharing the details, he said the mission heralds India’s ushering into an era of “Blue Economy” which is going to play a major part in building India’s overall economy during the years to come.
Dr Singh further elaborated that a vehicle called MATSYA will carry three persons to a depth of 6000 meters for exploration of deep-sea resources like minerals. This mission, he said, is expected to be realized in the next three years.
The Minister said that this mission was 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.”
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the design of the vehicle is completed and realization of various components of the vehicle is in progress. “Manned submersible facilitates the direct observation by the human in deep ocean in exploring mineral resources rich in nickel, cobalt, rare earths, manganese etc. and collection of samples, which can be used for analysis.
The Science and Technology minister added that apart from the scientific research and technological empowerment as the benefits, this mission has immediate spin-offs in the form of underwater engineering innovations in asset inspection, tourism and promotion of ocean literacy.
“Development of 6000 m 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.
