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हिन्दी — Read in HindiOcean, polar and earth science missions
Deep sea exploration, seabed minerals and who may mine them, ocean observation, India's Arctic and Antarctic research, and seismology. Prelims has asked about India's Deep Ocean Mission and who licenses exploration of the international seabed.
Foundation notes: UNCLOS: the zones from the coast to the Area · Deep sea minerals
Showing 1 of 5 articles, those that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026.Show all
Deep Ocean Mission
Copy link to Deep Ocean MissionPrelims and Mains
The Deep Ocean Mission, begun in 2021 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, develops the technology for exploring and using the deep sea through six verticals, shown in the figure.
- It is reported as a mining programme, but mining is one vertical of six.
- Ocean thermal energy conversion, power from the temperature difference between warm surface water and cold deep water, is another.
Mining and submersible
- Deep sea mining technology and a crewed submersible
Ocean climate advisories
- Advisory services on ocean climate change
Deep sea biodiversity
- Exploring and conserving deep sea life
Ocean survey
- Surveying the deep ocean and its resources
Energy and freshwater
- Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) from the sea
Marine biology station
- An advanced station for marine biology
Life and metal on the seabed
- The mission reads the Indian Ocean floor for life as much as for metal, and the two turn up in the same places.
- Seamounts are underwater mountains that never reach the surface.
- At mid ocean ridges, hydrothermal vents release mineral rich hot water, around which dense communities live.
- The mission's species lists are the baseline against which any loss from mining will be measured.
Samudrayaan and Matsya6000
Samudrayaan is the mission's crewed deep sea programme, and Matsya6000 the submersible built for it by the National Institute of Ocean Technology.
- Matsya6000 is a titanium sphere carrying three people to 6,000 metres, the depth at which India's nodule field lies.
- It has 12 hours of endurance and 96 hours of emergency life support.
- A crewed dive lets scientists see and sample what a remotely operated vehicle can only film.
What changed
12 Aug 2026New
- Matsya6000 completed harbour trials, and the nodule field was surveyed.
- Four hydrothermal vent fields were found on the Central and Southwest Indian Ridges, with India's first image of an active vent.
PIB, 12 Aug 2026: Deep Ocean Mission: submersible, nodules and hydrothermal vents (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 5 Aug 2026: Deep Ocean Mission: submersible, nodules and hydrothermal vents (opens in a new tab)
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2026: India's Deep Ocean Mission and Samudrayaan
Also filed elsewhere
- National report on deep-sea fishery resources · on Marine and coastal ecosystems
The national report on deep sea fishery resources is the Ministry of Earth Sciences' account of the fish in India's deep water, below the reach of light.
- The UN declaration on sea level rise and statehood · on Cryosphere, oceans and sea level
The United Nations General Assembly's declaration on sea level rise affirms that a State remains a State even if the sea takes its land, and that its maritime boundaries stay where they were fixed.