Samudrayaan: After Chandrayaan, India’s is planning to explore the deep sea region with the 'Samudrayaan' project. The 'Samudrayaan' project proposes to send men into the deep sea in a submersible vehicle for ocean studies. The project is expected to become a reality by 2021-22.

The project has been undertaken by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). NIOT Director MA Atmanand said that NIOT has similarly undertaken Samudrayaan as ISRO has envisioned carrying an astronaut to space under its 2022 'Gaganyaan' mission.

Samudrayaan: Key Facts

The 'Samudrayaan' is a pilot project of the Ministry of Earth Sciences for deep ocean mining for rare minerals.

Under the proposed 'Samudrayaan' project, three men will be sent into deep sea in a submersible vehicle to a depth of about 6000 metres to carry out various deep underwater studies.

The submersible vehicle, which will be indigenously developed, would be capable of crawling on the sea bed at a depth of six-kilometer for 72 hours.

The project will go deeper in phases with more trials and the ocean mining is expected to commence in 2022.

The submarines deployed currently go only about 200 metres deep into the sea. The expenditure of the ambitious project is expected to be around Rs 200 crore.

Samudrayaan Significance

If the 'Samudrayaan' project is successful, India will join the league of developed nations in the exploration of minerals from oceans.

Developed countries have already carried out such missions. India could be the first developing country to undertake such a project.



Background

The 'Samudrayaan' will be a part of the Rs 6000 crore 'Deep Ocean’ mission that though has received in-principle approval but it is still awaiting final approval from the Union Finance Ministry. The final approvals are expected to come through in October 2019.

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