Deep Ocean Mission: The Deep Ocean Mission aims to develop technologies that facilitate ocean exploration and the potential extraction of non-living resources, including energy, fresh water, and strategic minerals. Deep Ocean Mission Project is also important for UPSC Prelims Exam and UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 3- Science and Technology).
Recently, Union minister Jitendra Singh announced that India has identified 11 potential locations for the exploration of hydrogen sulfide. As part of the Deep Ocean Mission, the country is acquiring a specialized multi-purpose vessel to conduct comprehensive surveys in these areas.
The Deep Ocean Mission aims to develop technologies that facilitate ocean exploration and the potential extraction of non-living resources, including energy, fresh water, and strategic minerals. An important focus of the mission is to locate hydrothermal vents, which support distinctive ecosystems consisting of bacteria that utilize hydrogen sulfide as their energy supply. These initial investigations will help in identifying and studying such ecosystems.
Deep Ocean Mission Project aims to achieve following-
Nearly 1.5 lakh square kilometres of the area has been earmarked by India in the central Indian Ocean for exploration. India signed a 15-year contract in September 2016 with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration of Polly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) in the Indian Ocean.
As per scientists only 20% of the seafloor and 70% of the land surface on Earth has been explored by man. The aim is to be prepared when rules are formalised in this area. The deep oceans frontier is yet to be explored. As per the official, they have been working on it in a piecemeal basis but the thrust is to carry out work on a mission mode. The mission also involves more advanced deep-sea vessels for explorations. And the existing vessel Sagar Kanya is early three-and-half decades old.
Other players like China, Korea and Germany are also active in the Indian Ocean area in this activity. As last-week, China live-streamed the footage of its new manned submersible parked at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It was the part of the mission into the deepest underwater valley on the planet.
In the Ocean Ridges, Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) have attracted the whole world’s attention for their long term commercial as well as strategic values. PMS contain iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold, platinum in variable constitutions. They are precipitates of hot fluids from upwelling hot magma from the deep interior of the oceanic crust which is discharged through mineralized chimneys.
The program on Poly-metallic nodules was initiated at CSIR-NIO with the collection of the first nodule sample from the Arabian Sea on board the first Research Vessel Gaveshani on 26 January 1981.
In the world, India was the first country to have been given the Pioneer Area for exploration of deep-sea mineral viz. Polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean Basin in 1987.
This was based on the extensive surveys that have been carried out by the scientists of CSIR-NIO, on various research ships leading to the allocation of an area of 150,000 sq km to the country with exclusive rights under the UN Law of the sea.
As per the IUCN, these deep remote locations can be a home to different species or unique species that have adapted themselves to conditions like poor oxygen and sunlight, high pressure and extremely low temperatures.
Samudrayaan Mission under Deep Ocean Mission, Facilitating Deep-sea Explorations
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