Context

India is aiming to send three persons to 6,000 meters below sea level as part of the Samudrayaan Mission. The mission heralds India's ushering into an era of a "Blue Economy" which is going to play a major part in building India's overall economy during the years to come.

About

About Samudrayaan Mission

• Samudrayaan Mission 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 has an endurance of 12 hours of operational period and 96 hours in case of emergency.
• The projected timeline is five years for the period 2020-2021 to 2025-2026.

What are the main components of the Deep Sea Mission?

There are six components to this mission.

• First component: A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean.
• Second component: Developing a suite of observations and models to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables. 
• Thirdcomponent: Development of technological innovations to explore and conserve deep-sea biodiversity.
• Fourth component: Exploring multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides mineralisation along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges. 
• Fifth component:Focus on developing an offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant which will work with tidal energy.
• Sixth component: Establishment of an advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology.

Significance:

• The preliminary design of the manned submersible ‘MATSYA 6000’ is completed and realization of the vehicle has been started along with various organizations including ISRO, IITM, and DRDO roped-in to support the initiative, the Union Minister added.
• Developed indigenously, MATSYA 6000 is a manned submersible vehicle. It will facilitate the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in conducting deep ocean exploration.

Need in India:

• For India, there lies a unique maritime position, a 7517 km long coastline, which is home to nine coastal states and 1,382 islands. 
• The Government of India’s vision of ‘New India’ highlights the Blue Economy as one of the ten core dimensions of growth.

Which other entities are involved in Samudrayaan?

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), IITM, and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will actively participate in this mission.

With the launch of the unique ocean mission ‘Samudrayaan’ in October 2021, India joined the elite club of nations such as the US, Russia, Japan, France, and China to have niche technology and vehicles to carry out subsea activities.