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The Deep Ocean Mission, launched in 2021 with an outlay of about Rs 4,077 crore, operates across six verticals under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Design and system engineering of MATSYA-6000, India's flagship human submersible, are complete, with crewed and uncrewed wet harbour trials at 8 metres conducted at Kattupalli near Chennai from 22 January to 14 February 2025.
NIOT scientists gained pilot experience on the French submersible NAUTILE in August 2025.
A self-propelled deep-sea nodule collector demonstrated collection of over 100 kg of cobalt-rich polymetallic nodules from a depth of 1,173 metres in the Andaman Sea in 2024.
INCOIS has completed 11 glider missions and deployed 60 wave spectra drifters and 92 Argo floats in the Indian Ocean.
Polymetallic nodules are potato-shaped concretions lying loose on the abyssal seafloor, typically at 5,000 to 6,000 metres, and they contain copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese - precisely the metals that batteries, magnets and electronics need. Because they sit on the surface of the sediment rather than within rock, they can in principle be collected rather than excavated, which is what the self-propelled nodule collector demonstrated when it recovered over 100 kg from 1,173 metres in the Andaman Sea. The strategic logic is straightforward: India imports almost all its cobalt and nickel, and terrestrial reserves of both are concentrated in a handful of countries. Polymetallic sulphides, the mission's other mineral target, form instead around hydrothermal vents and carry copper, zinc, gold and silver. The counterweight is ecological - the abyssal plain is slow-living and poorly understood, sediment plumes from collection can travel far, and recovery times for disturbed habitat may run to decades or longer, which is why Vertical 3 on deep-sea biodiversity exists alongside Vertical 1 on mining. 'Blue economy' is the umbrella term for using ocean resources for growth while keeping ocean ecosystems healthy, and the Deep Ocean Mission is explicitly framed as its pilot project.
Simple Analogy: Nodules are metal-rich pebbles scattered across an underwater desert - easy to pick up in principle, but nobody yet knows what picking them up does to the desert.
Develops MATSYA-6000 and the deep-sea mining machine; its scientists trained on the French submersible NAUTILE.
Runs ocean observation under the mission - glider missions, drifters and Argo floats - and develops ocean climate advisory products.
Implements the Deep Ocean Mission across its six verticals.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology: Indigenisation and Developing New Technology; Economy: Blue Economy; Environment: Marine Resources
General Awareness > Science and Technology
General Awareness > Economy and Current Affairs
General Awareness > Science and Technology
General Knowledge > Maritime and Strategic Technology
The Deep Ocean Mission, Samudrayaan and the blue economy have appeared repeatedly in UPSC Prelims and Mains since 2021.
India's flagship human submersible under the Samudrayaan project, designed to carry three crew to 6,000 metres, developed by NIOT Chennai.
Potato-shaped seafloor concretions at roughly 5,000-6,000 metres containing copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese.
Mineral deposits forming around hydrothermal vents, carrying copper, zinc, gold and silver.
Use of ocean resources for economic growth while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems; the Deep Ocean Mission is framed as its pilot project.
A free-drifting instrument profiling ocean temperature and salinity; 92 physical and biogeochemical floats deployed.
An index developed under the mission to assess cyclone formation potential in the Bay of Bengal.