Govt. plans ‘ISRO-like’ ocean mission

Govt. plans ‘ISRO-like’ ocean mission

News:

1. The Centre has drawn up plan to explore the deep recesses of the ocean.

Important facts:

2. The Union Earth Science Ministryhas tasked with coordinating the exercise.

3. The Ministry has also unveiled a blueprint of the ‘Deep Ocean Mission (DOM).

4. The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO.

5. An offshore desalination plant will help in achieving these goals by developing a submersible vehicle that can go to a depth of atleast 6,000 metres with three people on board.

6. The UN International Sea Bed Authority has allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometers in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN).

7. These are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel, and cobalt.

8. It is estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of seas in the Central Indian Ocean.

9. India’s Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometers and in the deep sea, lies “unexplored and utilized.”

10. The focus will be on technologies for deep-sea mining, underwater vehicles, and underwater robotics and ocean climate change advisory services, among other aspect.