‘The sea will crush your pride…’
These words of Dr. Subramanian Annamalai of India’s National Institute of Marine Technology still resonate in our ears today. Dr. Subramanian Annamalai is in charge of the power division of the 6000 submarine. This submarine is being built under India’s ‘Samudrayaan’ project.
“Nobody knows everything in this world and the ocean is a perfect example of that. Sending humans to such depths in the ocean will help marine research. That’s the goal of Matsaya 6000,” he says. A team of scientists at the National Institute of Marine Technology has been working on developing the Matsaya 6000 submarine for the past three years.
The News Agency team visited the National Institute in Chennai where the submarine is being built to learn about the project under which India will send a team of humans to the deepest depths of the ocean for the first time in 2026. Soon, scientists will test this submarine near Chennai. According to project director Dr. Vedachalam, three people will go deep into the ocean in the Matsaya 6000 submarine.
Indian Scientists Poised for Deep-Sea Exploration
This year, scientists will conduct several experiments, and if all the experiments are successful, in 2026, Indian scientists will go to a depth of six thousand meters in the Indian Ocean using the Matsaya submarine.
In 2020, China sent a submarine with humans aboard to a depth of 10,909 meters in the Mariana Trench. Apart from this, only Russia, Japan, France and the United States have been able to send humans to the deep sea. Scientists hope that India will soon join this list. India’s National Institute of Marine Technology is developing the Matsaya 6000 submarine.
According to Project Director Dr. Veda Chalam, this is the only institution in India that has the capability to build submarines. “It has been designed entirely by our scientists and they have succeeded in creating a submarine that is capable of carrying humans into the deep sea.” According to Dr. Veda Chalam, the Matsaya 6000 will have three people on board, including a scientist and two submarine operation experts.
They say that Ramesh Raju of the National Institute, who has been working on the submarine, will operate it. An Indian Navy official will be with him to assist him, while the third person on board will be a scientist who will conduct various experiments in the depths of the sea.
Read Also:
India makes big discovery in the depths of Southern Indian Ocean, captures images
How Will India Achieve Human Exploration at 6,000 Meters Depth?
Dr. Vedachalam says that the Matsaya 6000 will be transported by a ship to the location where the survey is to be conducted and then it will be launched into the water. Indian scientists claim to have developed everything from the submarine’s titanium structure to the battery. The forward section of the submarine will carry three people.
Dr. Ramesh has designed the electronic system of this submarine and will operate it. He has 20 years of experience operating unmanned automated submarines. They say that this submarine has been designed in such a way that minimal energy is consumed while going deep into the ocean and that the submarine’s equipment will start working only after reaching a certain depth.
The Objective of the Samudrayaan Project
Dr. Satyanarayana, a senior scientist working on the Matsaya project, claims that the Indian Ocean is rich in polymetals. They say that the polymer is a mixture of different metals, including metals such as copper, cobalt, and nickel.
Dr. Satyanarayan claims that fragments of this metal alloy are present in large numbers at the bottom of international waters under Indian jurisdiction. Initially, the National Institute built an autonomous submarine, the ROSUB 6000, for research on these metals. Following the success of this autonomous submarine, the Matsaya was built to take scientists to the bottom of the ocean.
“No matter how many automated submarines we send, we will learn new things by observing with human eyes,” he says. According to them, the submarine will not only observe the metals found on the seabed, but also the organisms living on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
Matsaya has two robotic arms at the front, while a basket is also installed that can lift objects weighing up to 200 kilograms.
Unique Battery
Scientists working on the project say that the construction of this submarine uses an unconventional approach that has never been adopted before. Typically, such submarines use lead-acid, lithium-ion, or silver-zinc batteries, but in Matsaya, Indian scientists have used lithium polymer batteries. According to Dr. Subramanian, this is the first time that such an advanced battery is being used in India.
“It’s quite small in size and weight, so it will take up very little space in the submarine. For example, it will take up five to six times less space than the traditional battery used in our homes, while providing much more power.” The submarine will take four hours to reach a depth of 6,000 meters in the ocean, where it will conduct research for another four hours. The entire journey will take Matsaya 12 hours.
However, according to project director Veda Chalam, batteries will be installed in the submarine for 108 hours from a safety point of view.
What Risks Exist in the Deep Sea?
Sunlight does not reach such a deep ocean, which is why it is very dark there. In addition, GPS devices do not work at such a depth. In such situations, it is quite difficult to determine the location of the submarine and find out about obstacles in its path.
To combat this, scientists are using acoustic positioning technology, which uses sounds to determine the environment around them. This is exactly how whales and dolphins communicate with each other.
According to Dr. Bala Nagajyoti, who works on Matsaya, communication will be established between the submarine and the ship carrying it in exactly the same way. In addition, another major challenge in sending submarines into the deep sea is the intense pressure found there. Satyanarayan explains that at such a depth, the pressure is several hundred times greater than on Earth.
“The pressure increases a hundredfold for every thousand meters. This means that at a depth of six thousand meters, the pressure is 600 times greater than on Earth. To meet this challenge, the Matsaya 6000 is made of titanium.”
According to him, the Indian Space Agency is helping to build the part of the submarine where the scientists who operate it will sit.
Can Matsya 6000 Overcome Every Challenge?
This submarine is designed to remain in deep water for only 12 hours. However, if it is unable to surface due to a technical fault, it has oxygen for up to 96 hours for the three people on board. In addition, a twin hull of this submarine will also be installed on the ship.
According to project director Veda Chalam, three people will monitor the submarine from here and guide it in case of any difficulty. According to Satyanarayanan, this submarine will be helpful not only in India but also globally in deep-sea search and rescue work, exploration of mineral resources, and study of living organisms.
Speaking about the Samundriyaan project, Balaji Ramakrishnan, director of the National Institute of Marine Technology, said that the project will not only prove that India can do such things but will also help in innovation in new technologies in the future.
According to him, this will prove to be a very important milestone in India’s marine research. Ramesh Raju says he is proud to be part of the country’s first team to go so deep into the ocean. He has full confidence that scientists at the National Institute of Marine Technology will be able to complete this project.