India, in a span of mere weeks, has conquered not only the skies but also set its sights on the depths of the ocean. Following the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s South Pole, the nation is now prepping for a groundbreaking journey to explore 6-kilometre deep ocean waters with its ‘Samudrayaan’ mission.
Kiren Rijiju, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, recently revealed that ‘MATSYA 6000’, a cutting-edge submersible, would be the vehicle for this underwater endeavour. Developed at Chennai’s National Institute of Ocean Technology, the machine is designed to carry a trio of humans. The expedition’s primary focus will be on conducting a comprehensive study of deep-sea resources and the assessment of marine biodiversity.
While the lunar landing focused on geographical exploration, ‘Samudrayaan’ has an additional economic aspect. As per the minister, the mission aims to support the ‘Blue Economy’, an initiative endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The mission envisages the sustainable extraction of ocean resources to bolster India’s economic growth, and job creation. It will also ensure the health of marine ecosystems.
“India’s first manned Deep Ocean Mission ‘Samudrayaan’ plans to send 3 humans in 6-km ocean depth in a submersible, to study the deep sea resources and biodiversity assessment. The project will not disturb the ocean ecosystem,” Rijiju earlier posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Just two weeks ago, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the country’s inaugural solar mission, Aditya-L1, from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is also continuing its lunar work, now stationed near the Moon’s South Pole.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju recently undertook an inspection of ‘MATSYA 6000’. He expressed the government’s commitment to this underwater mission, assuring that it would not disrupt the delicate oceanic ecosystem.
The series of ambitious projects underscore India’s accelerated pace in space and oceanic research. The successful soft landing on the Moon helped India shrug off the disappointment of the Chandrayaan-2 mission’s crash landing four years ago. Now, with ‘Samudrayaan’, the nation looks set to make another historical mark, this time in the depths of the Earth’s oceans.
