ISRO Completes Design Of Deep Sea Vehicle Crew Module

ISRO is taking its next mission, not into deep space, but diving in the deep seas. The space agency has just completed the design of the Deep Sea Vehicle, a manned crew module set to explore the deep turfs of the ocean. The Deep Sea Vehicle is a sphere-shaped submersible capsule.

ISRO Designs Deep Sea Vehicle

"The design for the manned submersible's sphere has been successfully developed by ISRO," said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. The next stage is certification by an international agency, the secretary said. Once the certification is done, the submersible will then move onto fabricating the capsules.

The Deep Sea Vehicle is intended to be built using titanium and involves complex technology. The Indian Space Research Organisation has taken up the project of designing the manned capsule as well as its fabrication, which comes during the later stage. According to the reports, the Deep Sea Vehicle can accommodate a three-member crew in the sphere.

The Deep Sea Vehicle will be part of the Deep Ocean Mission, Rajeevan said. He mentioned that the work is already under process with the work related to scientific and technical details are underway. Both ISRO and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai have signed an MoU for the deep sea explorations and the development of the Deep Sea Vehicle.

Deep Sea Vehicle Features

The Deep Sea Vehicle is part of the Deep Ocean Mission which aims to study climate change. Also, the mission aims to observe and understand marine biodiversity in the deep ocean bed. It will also survey for chemical compounds like minerals and hydrocarbons to help understand the fossil deposits and more.

The Deep Ocean Mission is an ambitious project costing Rs. 10,000 crores. ISRO here is tasked with the Deep Sea Vehicle design and fabrication. Further details have revealed that the Deep Dea Vehicle is expected to travel approximately 6,000 meters under the sea for various studies. In comparison, submarines travel only up 200 meters.

NIOT, on the other hand, is working on the electronics and navigational details of the manned submersible. In addition, other government agencies like the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad; the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa; and the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology at Kochi will also aid in the Deep Ocean Mission.