THE indigenously developed manned underwater submersible vehicle capable of taking three humans to a depth of 6,000 metre, Matsya 6000, will be ready as originally planned for its launch in 2024 for the Samudrayaan Mission, top official of National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, said on Tuesday.

 

The manned submersible, designed to carry three people in 2.1 meter diameter Titanium Alloy Personnel Sphere, is being developed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences and NIOT, Chennai, under the aegis of Deep Ocean Mission. It will have an operational endurance of 12h and systems to support emergency endurance up to 96h for deep ocean exploration of non-living resources such as polymetallic manganese nodules, gas hydrates, hydro-thermal sulphides and cobalt crusts, located at a depth between 1,000 and 5,500 meters.