MATSYA-6000

Context: 

Indian scientists are planning a dive similar to the one with the Titan submersible using an indigenous submersible in late 2024. 

• They assure that multiple backup safety measures for the crew are already established, and there may be reviews of the safety systems in use.

More in the news

• The Titan, which previously ferried tourists to the wreck of the Titanic buried 3,800 metres in the North Atlantic, lost contact with its mothership.
• The Titan consists of a carbon ­fibre sphere with a titanium casing on the front and back. 
• In the planning stage of Matsya 6000, Indian scientists ruled out a proposal to use carbon fibre and insisted on a titanium enclosure.
  • Titanium is stronger than steel but many times lighter — a key criterion that helps the submersible resurface with relative ease from the depths of the open ocean.

About Matsya­ 6000:

• National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai is in the process of designing a submersi­ble, Matsya­ 6000 under the Samudrayaan project, that will take three Indians to a depth of 6,000 metres into the Indian Ocean for deep sea exploration
• Funding and duration: Five-year project at an estimated cost of ₹350 crore.
• Aim: Exploring oceans and to survey the ocean bed and collecting data and samples.
• Components: 
  • NIOT had developed a ‘personnel sphere’ made of mild steel for an operational capability of 500 metres and tested for its usage as per the International Classification and Certification Agency.
  • Matsya­ 6000 has syntactic foam, a flotation device that would rise to the top and help determine the physical location of the submersible, even if it were unable to resurface. 

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) 

• Established in: 1993 as an autonomous society
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• A Governing Council manages NIOT and the Director is the head of the Institute. 
• Primary aim: To develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve the various engineering problems associated with the harvesting of non-living and living resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

News Source: The Hindu