Deep Ocean Mission

Under ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ India will embark on a journey to a depth of 6,000 metres in the Indian ocean to explore deep ocean minerals.

• Matsya 6000 is India’s flagship deep-ocean human submersible to reach 6,000 m deep in the ocean.

About Deep Ocean Mission (DOM):

• DOM is India’s ambitious programme to explore Indian oceans, chiefly implemented by the Ministry of Earth Science.
• It is one of nine missions under the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC).
• Supports the blue-economy priority area, blue trade, and blue manufacturing in India.
• MoES is working on an integrated system to mine polymetallic nodules (PMNs) of precious minerals (copper, manganese, nickel, and cobalt) from the central Indian Ocean bed.
  • The United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) has allocated these minerals to be mined.

Six pillars of DOM include:

• Development of technologies for deep-sea mining and a manned submersible to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean.
  • Submersible will be equipped with scientific sensors, tools, and an integrated system for mining PMNs from the central Indian Ocean;
    • Polymetallic nodules (manganese nodules), are rock concretions formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core.
• Development of ocean climate change advisory services, involving an array of ocean observations and models to understand and provide future climate projections;
• Technological innovations for the exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity;
• Identifying potential sites of multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides mineralisation along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges;
• Harnessing energy and freshwater from the ocean; and
• Establishing an advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology, as a hub for nurturing talent and driving new opportunities in ocean biology and blue biotechnology.

Challenges of India’s DOM:

• The high pressure in the deep oceans is the main challenge in exploring the oceans.
• Electronics and instruments find it simpler to function in a vacuum or in space than under huge pressures of oceans.
• Incredibly soft and muddy surface of oceans make it difficult for heavy vehicles to land or manoeuvre, as they would inevitably sink.
• Large amount of power and energy are required to extract and pump minerals to the surface.
• Visibility is also a significant hurdle as natural light can barely penetrate deep in the oceans.
• Variations in temperature, corrosion, salinity, etc. also pose challenges.

About Varaha:

• Varaha is a self-propelled seabed mining machine for the collection of PMNs.
• It will collect and pump nodules, steadily and continuously over prolonged durations in the deep-sea conditions.
• Designed and developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).

Other key facts:

• The decade 2021-2030 have been designated by the United Nations as the ‘Decade of Ocean Science’.

Ref: Source