Source: PIB & NIOT
India’s ambition to send men to the deep sea in a submersible vehicle is likely to be a reality in 2021-22 with the ‘Samudrayaan’ project
About the project
- It is an initiative of the National Institute of Ocean Technology
- Similar to ISRO’s plan to carry persons on a space mission(Gaganyaan Mission), NIOT has undertaken Samudrayaan.
- The project proposes to send a submersible vehicle with three persons to a depth of about 6000 metres to carry out deep underwater studies
- The ‘Samudrayaan’ is a part of the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ pilot project for deep ocean mining for rare minerals.
Significance
- The success of the ‘Samudrayaan’ will help India to join the league of developed nations in the exploration of minerals from oceans
- The success of the ‘Samudrayaan’ will help India to join the league of developed nations in the exploration of minerals from oceans
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, Government of India.
- NIOT is managed by a Governing Council and the Director is the head of the Institute.
- The major aim of starting NIOT under the Ministry of Earth Sciences is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve 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.
