Samudrayaan Project

In News 

• Under the Deep Ocean Mission, a manned scientific submersible has been proposed to be developed for deep ocean exploration.
•   The project is named Samudrayaan.

About Samudrayaan Project

• It is a part of the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ pilot project for deep ocean mining for rare minerals.
• National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) had developed and tested a ‘personnel sphere’ for a manned submersible system for a 500-metre water depth rating.
  • One Titanium alloy personnel sphere for a manned submersible system for 6000-metre water depth rating is under development in association with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram.
• The Matsya 6000: 
  • It is the deepwater manned submersible under the Samudrayan project.
    • It aims to send humans underwater for deep-sea exploration; it is a five-year project at an estimated cost of ?350 crores.
    • It is capable of carrying three human beings in a titanium alloy personnel sphere of a 2.1-metre diameter enclosed space with an endurance of 12 hours and an additional 96 hours in case of an emergency situation.
• Significance: 

• With the success of the ‘Samudrayaan’, India joins the elite club of nations such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. 

Source: PIB