After space, India stakes claim to ocean’s depths with 5,000m human dive

In a historic first, two Indian aquanauts descended over 4,000 and 5,000 metres into the North Atlantic Ocean aboard a French submersible, marking a milestone in preparations for India’s Deep Ocean Mission — the nation’s parallel push into the final frontiers of space and sea exploration.

New Delhi: Around a month after Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to reach the International Space Station, India sent an aquanaut 5,000 metres deep into the ocean in a first-of-its-kind expedition earlier this month.

Conducted in partnership with France, two Indian aquanauts successfully completed one deep dive each in the North Atlantic Ocean in the French submersible "Nautile" on August 5 and 6 as part of preparations for India's ambitious Deep Ocean Mission.

Raju Ramesh, a scientist at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, went 4,025 metres down on August 5, followed by a deep dive of 5,002 metres by Indian Navy Commander (retd) Jatinder Pal Singh on August 6.

Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said, "We have an Indian going into space and an Indian going into the deep ocean almost simultaneously."

"India's quest for a double conquest has already taken off... into space and into the deep ocean and that will mark the beginning of value addition to India's economic growth story from two sectors that have remained relatively underexplored or totally unexplored in the last seven to eight decades," he said.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken such a keen interest in the Deep Ocean Mission and blue economy that he spoke about it in his Independence Day speech twice -- in 2022 and 2023.

Singh said, "India may have one Indian going into space in an Indian spaceship and simultaneously one or more Indians going into the deep ocean in an indigenously developed submersible."

M Ravichandran, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said, "This expedition was conducted as part of India's Deep Ocean Mission. One of the verticals of the DOM aims to develop technology to harness non-living ocean resources and a submersible which can carry humans to the deepest parts of the ocean for exploration... To gain firsthand experience before we do it in our own submersible, a five-member NIOT team participated in deep dives in the French submersible 'Nautile' under Indo-French research collaboration."

He said India will conduct many more dives in the same submersible before it conducts a deep dive in the indigenous Matsya 6000 submersible, which could happen around December 2027.

The Deep Ocean Mission, also known as Samudrayaan, was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021 and is being implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

It involves the development of crewed and uncrewed submersibles, deep-sea mining technologies, ocean climate services, biodiversity research and energy from the ocean, aimed at harnessing resources from India's Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf.

The Matsya 6000 is designed to carry three people to depths of 6,000 metres inside a 2.1-metre-diameter titanium alloy sphere capable of withstanding extreme pressures.

It is equipped with scientific sensors, data and voice communication systems and safety subsystems with emergency endurance of up to 96 hours.

India is expected to join an elite group of only six nations with the capability to undertake manned deep-sea missions.