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- Recently,Deep Ocean Mission(DOM) has received in-principle approval from the government.
- The DOM mission will be led by the Union Earth Sciences Ministry.This five-year mission is expected to commence from October 31,2019.
- The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO about 35 years ago.A major thrust of the mission will be exploitation of polymetallic nodules(PMN).
- The mission will also comprise an offshore desalination plant that will work with tidal energy and developing a submersible vehicle that can go to a depth of at least 6,000 metres with three people on board.
- Poly metallic nodules(PMN) are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel, and cobalt.It is estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
- The UN International SeaBed Authority has allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometers in the Central Indian Ocean Basin(CIOB) to India for exploitation of polymetallic nodules(PMN).
