India's Deep Ocean Mission Project, 11 Sites Identified for Survey under Mission

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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).

Deep Ocean Mission in News

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.

Deep Ocean Mission Project

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.

Funding: Government had approved Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) in June last year to be implemented by Ministry of Earth Sciences at a total budget of Rs. 4,077 crore for 5 years.
Key objective: The objective is to develop niche technology and collaborate with Industries in carrying out deep ocean exploration of the non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1000 and 5500 metres.
Associated Ministries/Departments: The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will pilot the multi-disciplinary work and other government departments including the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will be stakeholders in this mission.
Part of Blue Economy: Deep Ocean Mission was part of the central government’s Blue Economy initiative which is going to play a major part in building India’s overall economy during the years to come.
Samudrayaan: The design and development of the subsystems for the manned submersible, named Samudrayaan, which can transport three individuals to great ocean depths, have been successfully accomplished. Currently, the integration of these subsystems is underway.
Significance: The exploration of strategic minerals like cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese are expected to pave the way for future commercial exploitation of these resources.

Purpose of Deep Ocean Mission

Deep Ocean Mission Project aims to achieve following-

The mission will explore India’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf.
It will lead to the designing, development and demonstration of human submersibles.
The mission will also help in exploring the possibility of deep-sea mining and also developing necessary technologies.
The mission will also enhance the presence of India in the Indian Ocean.

Scope of Deep Ocean Mission Project

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.

The institution of an ISA was set up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a Party. This 15-year contract formalised the exclusive rights of India for exploration of PMS in the allotted area in the Indian Ocean.
Earlier 10,000 sq. km of the area has been approved by the ISA for India with a 15-year PMS exploration plan along the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) region of the Indian Ocean.

Importance of Deep Ocean Mission Project

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.

Steps taken by Other Countries

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.

About Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS)

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.

About Poly-metallic Nodules

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.

Is there will be an environmental impact?

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.

Due to such mining expeditions, they can lead to extinct before knowing to the world and science.
As we know that the deep-sea biodiversity and ecology are poorly understood which make it difficult to assess the environmental impact and frame adequate guidelines.
Therefore, more discussions, guidelines are yet to be framed and worked upon the exploration.

Samudrayaan Mission under Deep Ocean Mission, Facilitating Deep-sea Explorations