What is Samudrayaan Project?

About Samudrayaan Mission

• It is India’s first manned mission to explore the deep ocean. 
• It is aimed to develop a self-propelled manned submersible to carry three human beings to a water depth of 6,000 meters in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools for deep ocean exploration. 
• It is designed to study the deep ocean resources and conduct biodiversity assessments as well. 
• The mission will not disturb the ecosystem as the submersible is used solely for exploration purposes. 
• The project is part of the larger Deep Ocean Mission, which supports the Central Government’s Blue Economy policy.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) 

What is MATSYA 6000?

• It is a manned submersible vehicle developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai. 
• It was developed under the Samudrayaan mission to facilitate humans in the deep ocean in exploring mineral resources.
• It has an endurance of 12 hours of operational period and 96 hours in case of emergency.
• It will allow scientific personnel to observe and understand unexplored deep-sea areas by direct interventions. Further, it will enhance the capability for deep-sea man-rated vehicle development.
• Expected to be launched in 2024-25, it would make India only one among six countries (US, Russia, Japan, France, and China) to have piloted a crewed under-sea expedition beyond 5,000 metres.

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Key Facts about Deep Ocean Mission

• It is a mission-mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
• It has been launched as a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• It is a high-level, multi-ministerial, multi-disciplinary programme for a better understanding of the deep sea living and non-living resources of the Indian Ocean.
• It aims to develop technologies to harness living and non-living resources from the deep oceans.
• The estimated cost of the Mission will be 4077 crores for a period of 5 years (2021-26), to be implemented in a phase-wise manner. 
• The Mission consists of six major components:
  • Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining and Manned Submersible and Underwater Robotics;
  • Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services;
  • Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity;
  • Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration;
  • Energy and freshwater from the Ocean;
  • Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology;

Q1) What is the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)? 

NIOT was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. NIOT is managed by a Governing Council and the Director is the head of the Institute. Major aim of starting NIOT under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve the various engineering problems associated with harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is about two-thirds of the land area of India.

Source: Samudrayaan’s key test is complete, says govt