Samudrayaan – India’s first submarine mission

By Mehak Aggarwal

India has already begun its journey of unveiling the secrets of space many years ago. Now it’s time for its contribution in deep ocean discoveries as well. The country has launched an underwater mission “Samudrayaan” a couple of years ago. It is India’s first manned submersible mission to explore deep sea areas by 2025 -26, with a total budget of Rs 4077 crore. It will be handled by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

What exactly is this mission?

The mission is all about exploring the depth of seas. It further focuses on creating a self-propelled manned submersible that can transport human beings to a depth of 6000 meters, which will contain scientific sensors and tools.

Why is it important?

About 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water and about 90% of the deep sea is unexplored. India is surrounded by oceans from three sides. And so, collecting some resources like gas hydrates, hydrothermal sulphides, copper crust, which is present in large abundance at the depth of 5000 meters can be very beneficial in terms of raising India’s economy.

One of the major focus will be that it will make India a member of the elite club of nations to conduct important explorations.