India to launch Deep Ocean Mission by October 2019

30 Jul 2019

India to launch Deep Ocean Mission by October 2019

India to launch Deep Ocean Mission by October 2019The Centre has approved the Union Earth Sciences Ministry's plan for India's ‘Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)’. The mission aim is to explore the deep ocean.

M Rajeevan, Secretary said that the mission will aim to launch by 31st October 2019.

The Ministry had unveiled a blueprint (plan) of the programme in July 2018.
 	It is a 5-year plan and will cost ₹8,000 crore.
 	One of the mission's important goals is to set up an offshore desalination* plant that will work with tidal energy. 
 	Another goal is to develop a submersible vehicle (like submarines) that can go to a depth of at least 6,000 metres with three people on board.
 	It will also focus strongly on searching for metals and minerals underwater.

The UN International Sea Bed Authority has allotted 75,000 sq. km. in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) to India. This is for exploration of polymetallic nodules (PMN).

PMN are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt.
 	It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of PMN is available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
 	If we can get even 10% of PMN in the ocean, it can meet our energy requirement for the next 100 years.

*Desalination: Removing salt from seawater to make it drinkable

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The Centre has approved the Union Earth Sciences Ministry’s plan for India’s ‘Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)’. The mission aim is to explore the deep ocean. […]

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