The launch of the deep-sea mission is expected to cost Rs 4,077 million and will last for 5 years. (Representative image)
The 89.5-meter-long professional vessel will be built at a cost of Rs 840 crore and is likely to be ready in the next three-and-a-half years. If additional AUVs are deployed, they will be able to operate at a depth of nearly 6,000 meters.
India's ambitious deep-sea mission will get a major boost with a giant Ocean Research Vessel (ORV) capable of operating at a depth of nearly 6,000 meters. The Goa-based National Center for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) signed a Rs 840-crore contract with Kolkata-based defense PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilding and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. for the construction and delivery of the vessel.
The giant ship, 89.5 meters long and 18.8 meters wide, will be one of the largest domestic research vessels, with a depth of at least 12.50 meters. The ship has a gross weight of 5,900 tons and can reach a speed of nearly 14 knots at 90% of maximum output.
The research vessel will be able to operate at a maximum depth of 6,000 meters (the deepest point in the Indian Ocean), which is one of the main objectives of the government's deep-sea mission. According to the contract, the company will take approximately three and a half years to build the vessel.
Once ready, the vessel will be able to conduct Underway Swath Multibeam, allowing scientists to study the shape and depth of the seafloor based on the returned signals. It will also be able to conduct geophysical seismic surveys in coastal marine and deep water areas and perform a range of key scientific functions including conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiling and water sampling operations, including through vertical and horizontal methods. Various methods for biological sampling.
All this data is critical for deep-sea missions, and India plans to explore and study the sustainable use of its deep-sea biological resources in the coming years, in addition to extensive mineral exploration.
The vessel 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 seafloor sampling and rock dredging.
In addition to this, scientists will be able to collect atmospheric observations, surface meteorological and ocean current measurements, and upper-altitude data, said GRSE, which has been building survey vessels for the Indian Navy for the past four decades. PSU also built the ocean acoustics research vessel INS Sagardhwani in 1994, which is currently being refitted at the shipyard.
The ship will also be able to deploy and recover heavy-duty test/protocol-type equipment and submersibles, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), to perform analytical work and data processing on board, the company said.
In December last year, PSU also delivered the largest survey ship built in India, INS Sandhayak, to the Navy. According to a notification from the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the shipyard currently has three ships of this class at various stages of completion.
The launch of the deep-sea mission is expected to cost Rs 4,077 million and will last for 5 years. The cost of the first phase over three years (2021-2024) is estimated at Rs 2,823.4 crore.
