MISSION SAMUDRAYAAN - GEOGRAPHY
News: India
suits up for deepest dive yet
What's in the news?
● The
National Institute of Ocean Technology
is set to spearhead a 6,000-metre
dive into the Indian Ocean, to explore marine biodiversity and potential of the
seabed.
Key takeaways:
● At
a depth of 6,000 meters, the weight of water would be nearly 600 times that at
sea level which make the pressurized hull the most important component of the
submersible.
● At
present, NIOT has made multiple, prototype steel hulls into which personnel can
climb into, one at a time, and test the necessary instruments to steer the
vehicle. While strong, steel is heavy and the corrosion from marine
environments means unsuitable for long-term research and hence the material of
choice for submersibles globally is titanium alloy
MATSYA-6000:
● India’s
indigenous submersible, MATSYA-6000, plunges into the bowels of the Indian
Ocean, with a three-person crew
onboard.
Mission Samudrayaan - India’s 1st Manned Ocean
Mission:
● The
project proposes to send a submersible vehicle with 3 persons to a depth of about
6000m to carry out deep underwater studies.
● It
is a pilot project of the Ministry of
Earth Sciences for deep ocean mining for rare minerals.
● The
project is undertaken by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), and
is in line with ISRO's ambitious 'Gaganyaan' mission.
Deep Ocean Mission:
● Deep
Ocean Mission aims to explore the deep ocean for resources.
● It
also aims to develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
Nodal Ministry:
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
Duration: 2021-25 (5 years)
Components of the Mission:
The
Deep Ocean Mission consists of the following six major components such as
1. Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining and
Manned Submersible:
● A
manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6000 meters
in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools.
● For
mining Polymetallic Nodules from 6000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean, an Integrated Mining System will also be
developed.
2. Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory
Services:
● Models
will be developed to understand and provide future projections of important
climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales.
3. Technological innovations for exploration and
conservation of deep-sea biodiversity:
● Bio-prospecting
of deep-sea flora and fauna including microbes and studies on sustainable
utilization of deep-sea bio-resources will be the main focus under this
component.
● Bio-prospecting
is defined as a systematic and organized search for useful products derived
from bio-resources. It includes plants, microorganisms, animals that can be
developed further for commercialization and overall benefits of the society.
4. Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration:
● This
component will explore and identify potential sites of multi-metal Hydrothermal Sulphides mineralization along the Indian
Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.
5. Energy and freshwater from the Ocean:
● Studies
and detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plants
are being planned under this component.
● OTEC
is a processor technology for producing energy by harnessing the temperature
differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean
waters.
6. Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology:
● This
component is aimed at the development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean
biology and engineering. It will translate research into the industrial
application and product development through on-site business incubator facilities.
Significance of the mission:
● Deep
Ocean Mission will be a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
● The
technology and expertise needed in such missions are now available in only five
countries – US, Russia, France, Japan and China. India will be the sixth country to have it.
Significance of the Mission for Indian economy:
1. Capabilities development:
● The
‘Deep Ocean Mission’ plan will enable India to develop capabilities to exploit
resources in the Indian Ocean Basin. IOB reserves contain deposits of metals
like iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt.
2. Minerals:
● Indian
Ocean contain vast amount of minerals, including the cobalt, zinc, manganese
and rare earth materials.
● These
minerals are needed for electronic
industry to make smart phones, laptops and car components etc. This can
help Make in India initiative.
3. Energy resources:
● The
main energy resources present in Indian Ocean are petroleum and gas hydrates.
Petroleum products mainly includes the oil produced from offshore regions.
● Gas hydrates
are unusually compact chemical structures made of water and natural gas.
● Deep
ocean mission along with these resources would help in exploiting tidal energy
and resources.
4. Manganese Nodules and Crusts:
● Manganese
nodules contain significant concentrations of manganese, iron and copper, nickel, and cobalt all of which have
numerous economic uses.
5. Sustainable development:
● Marine resources
from the Indian Ocean would serve as the backbone of India’s economic growth
and can help India to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy by 2022.
● Blue economy,
through sustainable use of oceans, has great potential for boosting the
economic growth.
6. Employment generation:
● It
will provide jobs, improved livelihoods to many. This will help in inclusive growth.
7. Climate Change:
● It
will help in study Impact of climate change on ocean. This would help India to
prepare for any disaster due to climate change.
● Also,
Oceans provide an alternate and more
cleaner source of energy. It also acts as an important carbon sink. This
will help in mitigating climate change.
8. Disaster preparedness:
● Information
from deep-ocean exploration can help predict earthquakes and tsunamis.
9. Nation’s security:
● It
will play a significant role in the security of the nation as many critical
military technologies rely heavily on rare earth elements which are abundant in
Ocean.
10. Technological advancements:
● It
can also help us in innovating technologies from underwater vehicles to
underwater robotics.
11. Health industry:
● Unlocking
the mysteries of deep-sea ecosystems can reveal new sources for medical drugs, food, and other
products.
Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG 14), calls to
conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development. Thus deep ocean mission is a right step in this
direction.
Go back to basics:
National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT):
● It
was established in 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
● The
major aim of NIOT is to develop reliable
indigenous technologies to solve various engineering problems associated
with harvesting of non-living and living resources in India's Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ).
● The
institute is based in Chennai.
What are PMN?
● Polymetallic
nodules (also known as Manganese Nodules) are potato-shaped,
largely porous nodules found in abundance carpeting the sea floor of world
oceans in deep sea.
● Composition:
Besides manganese and iron, they contain nickel, copper, cobalt, lead,
molybdenum, cadmium, vanadium, titanium, of which nickel, cobalt and copper are
considered to be of economic and strategic importance.
● Potential:
It is envisaged that 10% of recovery of that large reserve can meet the energy
requirement of India for the next 100 years.
● The
International Seabed Authority has
allocated about 75,0000 square kilometers in the Central Indian Ocean Basin
(CIOB) to conduct exploratory mining.
● It
has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are
available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.