Project Samudrayaan : India's Ambitious Deep Sea Mission

Samudrayaan Mission dubbed as ‘Matsya 6000’ : India's aim for Deap Sea Exploration

After successful Lunar landing, India aims for another audacious expedition - Project Samudrayaan. This mission is a part of the Comprehensive Deep Ocean Mission, which promotes the 'Blue Economy' vision of our honourable PM Narendra Modi. The Government of India approves budget of approximately Rs.4077 Crores for the Deep Ocean Mission of which approx. Rs.1400 Crores are already allocated for the project.

Samudrayaan (Matsya 6000) : India's Deep Sea Mission

Samudrayaan Mission also called as ‘Matsya 6000’ is aimed to develop a self propelled manned submersible that will carry 3 human beings (aquanauts) to a water depth of 6000 meters in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools for deep ocean exploration. The 6000 in its name signifies its capability to reach upto the depth of 6000 meters beneath the Ocean surface.

The Samudrayaan mission is developed by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, an autonomous institute under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). This institute is responsible for scrutinization of every facet of Matsya 6000, including its design, materials, testing, certification, redundancy measures, and standard operating protocols. It is equipped with the various cutting edge precision underwater instruments such as Autonomous Coring System (ACS), Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and Deep Sea Mining System (DSM) for the exploration of deep sea.

'Samudrayaan' (Sanskrit word for Sea Vehicle or Sea Craft) is a 2.1-meter diameter sphere constructed from an 80mm-thick Titanium alloy, capable of accommodating three persons. This sphere is engineered to withstand the staggering pressure of 600 bar, which equates to 600 times the pressure experienced at sea level, all at a depth of 6,000 meters. It has an endurance of 12 hours of operational period and 96 hours in case of emergency. However, during sea trials, its the inaugural underwater journey will be of 500 meters off the Chennai coast in the Bay of Bengal.

The projected timeline is five years for the period 2020-2021 to 2025-2026. It has been in development for nearly two years and now its design has been finalized, and work is in progress on various components. This mission will position India among the exclusive club of nations with manned submersible capabilities, including the US, Russia, Japan, France, and China.

This Submersible will enable direct human observation in the deep ocean, the largely uncharted depths of the ocean floor to study marine resources and biodiversity that will ultimately help in the exploration of mineral resources such as Nickel, Cobalt, Rare Earths, and Manganese, along with sample collection for analysis. It will also delve into depths where presence of methane gas may be possible.

It envisions sustainable utilization of ocean resources for economic growth of the country, along with ensuring that it will not disturb the ocean ecosystem.