India's Deep Sea Mission

AUTHORED BY KHUSHI HINDUJA

India is gearing up for a historic Deep Ocean Mission to explore and harness the depths of the ocean, a frontier that remains largely uncharted and holds immense potential for

scientific and economic benefits. Countries such as U.S.A.,Russia, China, France and Japan have already achieved this feat and we are the sixth country to achieve this

mission. The aim of the‘Deep Ocean Exploration’of the PM-STIAC is to scientifically explore the deep oceans towards improving our understanding of the blue frontier. The information from this mission will address issues arising from long-term changes in the ocean due to climate change. The focus areas cover the development of technologies for deep-sea exploration and exploitation of living (biodiversity) and non-living (minerals) resources; development of underwater vehicles and underwater robotics; development of ocean climate change

advisory services; technological innovations and conservational methods for sustainable utilization of marine bio-resources; offshore based desalination techniques; and renewable energy generation.

In 2019, the Government of India had initiated a ₹8,000- crore plan to explore the depths of the ocean with multidimensional aims including the exploration of metals and minerals. Moreover, India has also been allotted a site of 75,000 sq. km. in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for the exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN). Just utilizing 10% of the PM reserve available in the area, the country can meet its energy requirements for the next 100 years.

The Deep Ocean Mission consists of these major components

• Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible: A manned submersible will be developed to carry 3 people to a depth of 6000 metres in the

ocean with suite of scientific sensors and tools. An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining Polymetallic Nodules from 6000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean.

• Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services: On the basis of these findings, many observations and models will be developed to understand and provide future

projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal under this proof-of-concept component.

• Create awareness amongst the public, students, academicians and user communities about the various fields of Earth system science as well as on the achievements and services rendered by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

• 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

• Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration: The primary objective of this component is to explore and identify potential sites of multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides mineralization along the

Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.

• Energy and freshwater from the Ocean: Studies and detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant are envisaged in this proof-of-concept proposal.

• Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology: This component is aimed as development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean biology and engineering. This component will translate research into industrial application and product development through on-site business incubator facilities.

Data Courtesy: IAS Express