Matsya Matsya () is the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Often described as the first of Vishnu's Dashavatara, ten primary avatars, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man, Manu (Hinduism), Manu, from a great deluge. Matsya may be dep ...

6000 (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

: मत्स्य ६०००) (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, ) is an Indian crewed

deep-submergence vehicle A deep-submergence vehicle (DSV) is a deep-diving crewed submersible that is self-propelled. Several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs. DSVs are commonly divided into two types: research DSVs, which are used for ex ...

intended to be utilised for

deep-sea exploration Deep-sea exploration is the investigation of physical, chemical, and biological conditions on the ocean waters and sea bed beyond the continental shelf, for scientific or Commerce, commercial purposes. Deep sea, Deep-sea exploration is an aspect ...

of rare

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

s under the ''Samudrayaan'' mission. Currently under development, the vehicle would consist of a

titanium alloy Titanium alloys are alloys that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance ...

sphere of 80mm thickness along with a diameter of 2.1m which can withstand the pressure of 600 bar.

History

On 31 August 2019, while replying to a query about deep sea mining, the then director of NIOT (

National Institute of Ocean Technology The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences in India. NIOT is managed by a Governing Council and is headed by a director. The institute is bas ...

) Dr. M.A. Atmanand, who was at the facility of Titagarh Wagons to inaugurate coastal research vessel Sagar Anveshika, said that in line with the

Gaganyaan Gaganyaan (,, from Sanskrit: , "celestial" and , "craft, vehicle") is an Indian List of crewed spacecraft, crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being des ...

mission of

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...

, NIOT was proposing a project to send a submersible vehicle with three persons to a depth of about 6000 metres to carry out deep underwater studies. He further added that the success of the ''Samudrayaan'' mission will help

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

join the league of developed nations in exploration of minerals from oceans. The project was supposed to get final approval from the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

in October 2019, but the final approval was delayed and was granted on 16 June 2021.

Development

On 27 October 2021, NIOT conducted an uncrewed trial of the ‘personnel sphere,’ built of mild steel, using the ORV Sagar Nidhi, in Bay of Bengal. For the trial, the personnel sphere was lowered up to a depth of 6000 metres, off the coast of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. After successful trial and receiving certification, the union minister of state (independent charge) science and technology Jitendra Singh formally launched the project on 29 October 2021. The entire project was allocated () for a period of five years. The first wet-test or submerged test of the capsule will take place in October 2024 in the chennai harbour at a depth of 15 meters. A shallow water test is planned in 2025 and the final unmanned deep sea tests in 2026.

References

{{authority control Research submarines Research submarines of India Submarines of India Ship types

History

Development

See also

References