In a first, Indian aquanauts go 5,000-metre deep into ocean

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Around a month after Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to reach the International Space Station, India sent two aquanauts 4,000-5,000 metres deep into the ocean in a first-of-its-kind expedition earlier this month.

Conducted in partnership with France, the Indian aquanauts successfully completed one deep dive each in the North Atlantic Ocean in the French submersible "Nautile" on August 5 and 6 as part of the preparations for India's ambitious Deep Ocean Mission.

Raju Ramesh, a scientist at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, descended 4,025 metres on August 5 at Horta, off the Portuguese coast, followed by a deep dive to 5,002 metres by Indian Navy Commander Jatinder Pal Singh (retd) on August 6.

Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said, "We have an Indian going into space and an Indian going into the deep ocean almost simultaneously." "India's quest for a double conquest has already taken off... into space and into the deep ocean and that will mark the beginning of value addition to India's economic growth story from two sectors that have remained relatively underexplored or totally unexplored in the last seven to eight decades," he said.

The minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken such a keen interest in the Deep Ocean Mission and blue economy that he spoke about it in his Independence Day speech twice -- in 2022 and 2023.

"India may have one Indian going into space in an Indian spaceship and simultaneously one or more Indians going into the deep ocean in an indigenously developed submersible," he said.

M Ravichandran, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said, "This expedition was conducted as part of India's Deep Ocean Mission. One of the verticals of the DOM aims to develop technology to harness non-living ocean resources and a submersible which can carry humans to the deepest parts of the ocean for exploration... To gain firsthand experience before we do it in our own submersible, a five-member NIOT team participated in deep dives in the French submersible 'Nautile' under Indo-French research collaboration." He said India will conduct many more dives in the same submersible before it conducts a deep dive in the indigenous Matsya 6000 submersible, which could happen around December 2027.

Matsya-6000 is expected to reach a depth of 500 metres by mid-2026. It is a spherical human-occupied capsule that can accommodate three people.

Matsya's first dive to 500 metres may be delayed by around six months, as the floating foam for the capsule is expected to arrive from France by November, Ravichandran told reporters.

Ramesh and Singh told the media that they had gained experience in underwater communication, acoustics and navigation, which will be useful when operating the indigenous ocean craft.

While Singh spent around four hours at the bottom after a descent of about 2.5 hours, Ramesh spent five hours practising navigation skills and tracking objects.

The Deep Ocean Mission, also known as Samudrayaan, was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021 and is being implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

It involves the development of crewed and uncrewed submersibles, deep-sea mining technologies, ocean climate services, biodiversity research and energy from the ocean, aimed at harnessing resources from India's Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf.

The Matsya 6000 is designed to carry three people to depths of 6,000 metres inside a 2.1-metre-diameter titanium alloy sphere capable of withstanding extreme pressures.

It is equipped with scientific sensors, data and voice communication systems and safety subsystems with emergency endurance of up to 96 hours.

India is expected to join an elite group of only six nations with the capability to undertake manned deep-sea missions. PTI GVS ARI