News Updates.
India has become the first country in the world to reach the South Pole of the Moon through the Chandrayaan Mission. Meanwhile, Aditya L-1 has left for the Surya mission. In such a situation, India is now looking to plant its flag in the depths of the sea. For this, preparations for testing the manned submersible ‘Matsya 6000’ during the Samudrayan mission are in full swing.
‘Matsya 6000’ submersible is being built at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai. This is India’s first manned deep sea mission. Through this, this submarine will go down into the ocean to evaluate and study the deep sea resources and biodiversity.
This submarine will take 3 people to a depth of 6 kilometers in the sea. This Deep Ocean Mission falls under the ‘blue economy’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This economy promotes the sustainable use of marine resources while improving the country’s economic growth, livelihoods and employment, and preserving the health of marine ecosystems.
‘Matsya 6000’ will perform its work without causing any damage to the submarine’s marine ecosystem. Information about this mission has been shared by Geoscience Minister Kiren Rijeju on his X handle. Here we will talk about this mission to know the secrets of the deep sea.
Next is “Samudrayaan”
This is ‘MATSYA 6000’ under construction at the National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai. India’s first manned Deep Ocean Mission ‘Samudrayaan’ plans to send 3 people at 6 km ocean depth in a submersible to study the deep ocean resources and… pic.twitter.com/aHuR56esi7— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) September 11, 2023
What is “Matsya 6000”
NIOT’s all-indigenous ‘Matsya 6000’ submersible is made of 80mm thick titanium alloy. It will withstand pressure 600 times more than sea level. Not only this, it will have the ability to work continuously for 12 to 16 hours. Along with this, the oxygen supply will continue for 96 hours.
NIOT researchers have completed their design, material, test certification, redundancy and standard operating procedure verification. It will likely be tested in the Bay of Bengal in early 2024.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences had said in early 2023 that the Samudrayan project is likely to be completed by 2026. The Center had approved the Deep Ocean Mission at a total budget of Rs 4,077 crore for five years. The estimated cost of the first phase over three years (2021-2024) is Rs 2,823.4 million.
In the deep sea, this submarine will search for nickel, cobalt, manganese and gas hydrates, as well as detect chemosynthetic biodiversity in hydrothermal vents and low-temperature methane seeps in the ocean. So far, only the United States, Russia, Japan, France and China have developed manned underwater vehicles.
NINTH According to GA Ramdas, director, “Except for the surface, we have redundancies for everything. Sometimes double, sometimes triple excess. “It will be certified by an official sea trial and we have used DNV-GL to prove it.”
He says, “We will also follow the standard operating procedure of deploying the submersible from the vessel, which will remain on the surface just above the submersible for easy communication with the underwater vehicle.”
Lessons from the Titan submersible accident
After the Titan submersible accident earlier this year, scientists are rethinking the design of the “Matsya 6000” submersible. All five passengers including the CEO of the submersible company were killed in this accident.
NIOT chief Ramdas told the English newspaper The Hindu earlier this year, “When we were drafting the plan, there was a proposal to use carbon fiber for our submersibles, but we ultimately strongly rejected it.” And emphasized titanium.
He added, “Carbon fiber is strong, but not breakproof. “Nothing but titanium can be recommended at this depth.” He said that all research missions globally depend on titanium.
He also said that Matsya 6000 also has syntactic foam. It is a flotation device that will reach the surface of the ocean and thus help locate the submarine even if it cannot resurface.
According to him, Matsya 6000 will have Ultra Short Baseline Acoustic Positioning System (USBL). This would allow the mothership carrying the transponder to send information and respond to the drowner.
This will let the mother ship know where the submersible is. In fact, in air navigation or radio frequency identification, a transponder is a device that transmits a signal to be identified in response to the requested signal.
Important efforts are underway
Earth Science Minister Kiren Rijiju had said in June 2023 that work on the submersible was going on as per schedule and it would be ready soon. He had said, “Samudriyaan includes manned and unmanned exploration. This is a very important effort started by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The unmanned mission has gone over 7,000 meters, while a submersible for the manned mission is under construction.”
“I will monitor the progress of the construction together with our scientists and engineers,” he said during the World Oceans Day celebrations at NIOT. I hope we will complete it on time.” He also said that India must play an important and leading role in exploring the ocean and developing resources in a sustainable manner for a balanced ecosystem.
Union Minister Rijeju had said, “Just like space exploration, we have to go deep into the ocean and do research. We have to be prepared to dig deep and make India proud. Marine life and life on land are directly linked.” He also said that this initiative will send a strong positive message that the government is concerned about life on land as well as in the sea.
.