Samudrayan is India’s first manned marine mission. It was launched in October 2021. Thus, India has joined the elite clubs of countries that use underwater vehicles for underwater activities. Other elite countries that have such technology are Russia, France, China, United States and Japan.
Highlights
The Samudrayan mission will use the Matsya 6000 vehicle for reconnaissance. It facilitates deep-sea exploration of hydrothermal sulphides, polymetallic manganese, cobalt crusts and gas hydrates. The mission also explores marine resources for drinking water, clean energy and the blue economy.
About Matsya 6000
It was developed by the Indian Space Research Organization. The Matsya 6000 vehicle can carry three people. It is composed of titanium alloy. It has a diameter of 2.1 meters. The vehicle can run underwater for 12 hours. In an emergency, it can run for 96 hours. High-resolution bathymetry, Biodiversity assessment, slavage operations, geoscientific observations, technical support and search activities are possible. The vehicle will be ready for testing by the year 2024. The vehicle will be tested in shallow water by the years 2022 or 2023. This vehicles also has key subsystems such as trim and ballast systems, propulsion and battery systems, low density buoyancy modules, communication and control systems and control and recovery and launching system.
This vehicle has been approved for shallow water testing by International classification and certification agency. The association has certified vehicles according to subcomponents, system design, emergencies, operational concepts, functionality, error analysis and integrity. Certification was carried out with the marine research vessel Sagar Nidhi. The marine research vessel Sagar Nidhi is an ice-reinforced vessel operated by NIOT and built by Italy. This ship is capable of researching meteorology, oceanography and earth sciences. It runs on diesel. This ship is used in deep sea mining. It can reach a depth of 6,000 meters.
The MATSYA 6000 reaches a depth of 6,000 meters. Whereas, FENDOUZHE can reach a depth of 11,000 meters. FENDOUZHE is an underwater submersible, developed by China in the year 2020.
Usage of Underwater Vehicles
Underwater vehicles are essential for performing underwater activities such as biodiversity assessment, high-resolution bathymetry, geoscientific observations, rescue operations, exploration activities and technical support. While the unmanned underwater drone has improved manoeuvrability and superior visual systems as well as direct observation, manned submersibles give researchers a direct physical presence and an increased ability to intervene.