Union Minister Kiren Rijiju shares pics of Matsya 6000: All you need to know about Samudrayaan Mission

“The Deep Ocean Mission supports the 'Blue Economy' vision of PM Narendra Modi ji, and envisages sustainable utilisation of ocean resources for economic growth of the country, improve livelihoods and jobs, and preserve ocean ecosystem health,” he mentioned.

The ‘Samudrayaan Mission’ is the first manned submersible mission of India that aims to develop a submersible that will carry three people to a deep ocean depth of 6000 meters with a suite of scientific sensors and tools for deep ocean exploration. The mission has been developed with an endurance of 12 hours for normal operation and 96 hours in case of an emergency.

Under the ‘Samudrayaan Mission’, a submersible called “Matsya 6000” will undergo trials in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Chennai in early 2024. Currently, a team of scientists are looking into the design more cautiously after the implosion of the Titan submersible which took tourists into the Titanic Wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean in April this year.

Matsya 6000 is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), which has been developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, an autonomous institute under the Earth Sciences Ministry.

According to the official information, the Matsya 6000 Submersible’s passengers will include two lying prostrate and one operator of the Titanium Alloy to withstand water pressure. The passengers will be communicating to the researchers through acoustic waves at 6000 metres, as the pressure will be more than 600 times more than the pressure at sea level.

The main aim of the mission is to explore the deep oceans which have abundant mineral resources like Polymetallic nodules; cobalt-rich manganese crust, and hydrothermal deposits. Out of which, Polymetallic nodules are valuable metals such as Copper, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese, as per the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

The ‘Samudrayaan Mission’ is part of the larger Deep Ocean Mission, which aligns with the Blue Economy policy. This policy aims to efficiently utilise the resources under the ocean that can support the sustainability of the country's economic growth, improved livelihoods, job creation and maintain ocean ecosystem health.