India’s ambitious Deep Ocean Mission is set to get a major boost with a giant Ocean Research Vessel (ORV) that will be able to operate at a depth of nearly 6,000 metres. Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) has signed a contract worth Rs 840 crore with Kolkata-based defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd for the construction and delivery of the ship.
The massive 89.5 metres long and 18.8 metres wide ship will be one of the largest indigenously built research vessels which will be at least 12.50 metres deep. The ship will have a gross weight of 5,900 tons, with speeds that can reach nearly 14 knots at 90% maximum output.
The research vessel will be able to operate at a maximum depth of 6,000 metres – the deepest points of the Indian Ocean – which is one of the key aims of the government’s Deep Ocean Mission. According to the contract, it will take roughly three and a half years for the company to build the vessel.
Once it is ready, the ship will be capable of Underway Swath Multibeam to allow scientists to study the shape and depth of the ocean floor based on the return signals. It will also be able to perform geophysical seismic surveys in coastal seas and deep waters and carry out a series of critical scientific functions – including Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) profiling and water sampling operations including biological sampling through vertical and horizontal methods through various nets.
All this data is crucial for the Deep Ocean Mission, under which India plans to explore and study sustainable utilisation of its deep-sea bio-resources apart from extensive mineral exploration in the coming years.
The ship will also be equipped with a suite of sensors and tools to help scientists conduct surface and deep-sea mooring and data buoy operations, as well as seabed sampling and rock dredging.
Apart from this, scientists will also be able to collect atmospheric observations, surface meteorological and current measurements and upper air data, said GRSE, which has been building survey vessels for the Indian Navy for the last four decades. The PSU had also built the Marine Acoustic Research Vessel INS Sagardhwani in 1994 which is currently being refitted at the shipyard.
The company said the ship will also be able to deploy and retrieve heavy test/protocol-type equipment and submersibles such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to carry out analytical work and data processing on board.
Last December, the PSU also delivered the INS Sandhayak – the largest survey vessel to be built in India – to the Navy. Three more vessels of this class are at various stages of completion at the shipyard at the moment, it informed the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The Deep Ocean Mission was launched with an estimated cost of Rs 4077.0 crore for a period of five years. Its cost for the first phase for the three years (2021-2024) was estimated at Rs 2823.4 crore.
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