Indigenous submersible vehicle Matsya 6000 will be ready as planned for Samudrayaan

The indigenously developed manned underwater submersible vehicle capable of taking three humans to a depth of 6,000 m, Matsya 6000 (in Sanskrit ‘Fish 6000’), will be ready as originally planned for its launch in 2024 for the Samudrayaan Mission, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) said on 22 February 2022.

About Matsya 6000

1. The manned submersible, designed to carry three people in 2.1-meter diameter Titanium Alloy Personnel Sphere, is being developed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences and NIOT, Chennai, under the aegis of Deep Ocean Mission.
2. It will have an operational endurance of 12h and systems to support emergency endurance up to 96h for deep ocean exploration of non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1,000 and 5,500 meters.
3. In October last year, Union Minister of State, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh launched India’s first and unique manned Ocean Mission Samudrayaan.
4. Sea trials of 500 meter rated shallow water version of the manned submersible are expected to take place in the last quarter of 2022 and the Matsya 6000, the deepwater manned submersible will be ready for trials by second quarter of 2024.
5. Plans are being developed to install 6 more desalination plants and our technology (low-temperature thermal desalination plant)

What is Samudrayaan 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. 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.

The Samudrayaan mission was announced by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in tandem with ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission, which seeks to launch a manned mission into space by 2022. The Samudrayaan Mission was announced by the NIOT in 2019, with a launch date of 2021-22.

Budget

The Rs 6000-crore Samudrayaan mission is part of the Deep Ocean Mission. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) proposal for a “Deep Ocean Mission” on June 16, 2021. The Deep Ocean Mission seeks to investigate the deep ocean for resources, develop deep-sea technology for long-term ocean resource management, and support the Indian government’s Blue Economy Initiatives.

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