Samudrayaan Project

Union Minister of Earth Sciences informed the Lok Sabha about Samudrayaan project.
Deep Ocean Mission has been launched in 2021 as a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Samudrayaan is a project under the Deep Ocean Mission.
The Samudrayaan mission is India’s first manned ocean mission, with the goal of sending men deep into the ocean in a submersible vehicle for deep-ocean exploration and rare mineral mining.
Under the Samudrayaan project of Deep Ocean Mission, MATSYA 6000 manned submersible design has been completed so far.
The 200-crore Samudrayaan Mission will send three people to a depth of 6000 metres in the sea in a manned submersible vehicle called MATSYA 6000 for deep underwater studies. Submarines have a maximum depth of roughly 200 metres.
Under the Mission, Deep water Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) namely Ocean Mineral Explorer (OMe 6000) has been deployed for exploration.

Main components of the Deep Sea Mission

A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean.
This submersible will have a suite of scientific sensors and tools to help in deep ocean exploration.
Developed indigenously, MATSYA 6000, the manned submersible will have an endurance of 12 hours of operational period and 96 hours in case of an emergency.
It will help scientific personnel to observe and understand unexplored deep-sea areas by direct intervention.
An integrated mining system will be also developed for mining polymetallic nodules from 6,000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean.
Polymetallic nodules, also known as manganese nodules, are potato-shaped, largely porous nodules found in abundance carpeting the sea floor of world oceans in deep sea.
Besides manganese and iron, they contain nickel, copper, cobalt, lead etc., which are of economic and strategic importance.

Why are polymetallic nodules important for India?

India has been allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN).
It is envisaged that 10 per cent of recovery of that large reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years.
It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
India’s Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometres.

Relevance of the Project for India:

India has a 7,517 km long coastline, which is home to nine coastal states and 1,382 islands.
Its three sides are surrounded by the oceans and around 30 cent of the nation’s population live in coastal areas and coastal regions play a major factor in the country’s economy.
The mission will also boost the Central government’s vision of ‘New India’ that highlights the Blue Economy as one of the ten key aspects of growth.

Entities involved in Samudrayaan

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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