Deep Ocean Mission

The Deep Ocean Mission is India’s mission-mode programme for exploring the deep ocean and developing technologies for its sustainable use. Approved in 2021, it combines resource exploration, climate science, biodiversity conservation and marine technology under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Technology and resource development

The mission seeks to build indigenous capabilities for operating in extreme deep-sea conditions and using ocean resources sustainably.

• It aims to develop technologies for deep-sea mining, including an integrated system for collecting polymetallic nodules, and a crewed submersible capable of carrying three persons to a depth of 6,000 metres.
• It promotes deep-ocean survey and exploration to identify potential sites of multi-metal hydrothermal sulphide mineralisation along Indian Ocean ridges.
• It supports research on ocean energy and freshwater, including the engineering design of an offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion powered desalination plant.

Climate, biodiversity and marine science

The scientific components improve understanding of ocean processes and the ecological consequences of human activity in poorly studied deep-sea environments.

• It develops ocean climate change advisory services through observations and models for understanding and projecting important climate variables.
• It advances technologies for the exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity, including systematic study of deep-ocean flora and fauna.
• It envisages an Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology to foster research, innovation and applications in marine biology and engineering.