The Indian Navy and the Ministry of Earth Science have joined hands to design and develop a ‘Deep Water Vehicle’ that would go as deep as 6000 meters to explore India’s sea resources under the “Deep Water Mission” project.
“Deep Ocean Mission” is specially designed to explore India’s deep ocean resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources. It will have an important bearing on India’s future economy,” the Ministry of Earth Science stated. The Deep Ocean Mission is a mission mode project launched by the Modi Government to support India’s Blue Economy initiatives that have the potential to exponentially grow the country’s Blue economy, said a senior officer of the Ministry of Earth Science.
The Deepwater vehicle would facilitate deep ocean exploration of the non-living resources mainly polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1000 and 5500 meters. The Modi Government had approved the Deep Ocean Mission in June, 2021 at a total budget of Rs. 4077 Crore for 5 years.
The Mission is a multi-ministerial, multi-disciplinary programme with an emphasis on the development of deep-sea technology that includes the development of manned Submersible rated for 6000-meter water depth along with technologies for deep-sea mining, exploration of deep-sea mineral resources and marine biodiversity, acquisition of a research vessel for ocean exploration, deep-sea observations, and capacity building in Marine Biology.