Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh Launches India’s Advanced Ocean Research Vessel ‘ORV Sagar Manthan’ to Drive Indigenous Maritime Research

Key Highlights:

• India launched its advanced Ocean Research Vessel, ORV Sagar Manthan, at Rishi Bankim Shipyard, Kolkata.
• Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE), the vessel is for the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• The ORV Sagar Manthan is part of the Deep Ocean Mission (DOM), specifically Vertical-4 (Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration), costing approximately ₹840 Crore.
• It is designed to replace the 43-year-old ORV Sagar Kanya and will operate in extreme oceanic environments, including the Southern Ocean.
• The vessel aims to boost India's Atmanirbharta in oceanographic science and maritime technology.

Detailed Insights:

• The launch signifies a major step towards self-reliance in designing and constructing complex oceanographic platforms.
• ORV Sagar Manthan is an all-weather, multidisciplinary platform with a projected service life of 30 years.
• It will support exploration along Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges to identify multi-metal hydrothermal sulphide mineralisation.
• The vessel will also establish environmental baselines, collect upper-air data, and undertake CTD profiling.
• Its capabilities include underway swath multibeam surveys, geophysical profiling, and deployment facilities for Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV).
• The vessel holds dual-class certification from the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Multibeam Bathymetry: A sonar system used to map the seafloor by emitting multiple sound beams and measuring their return time.
• Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV): Unmanned underwater vehicles tethered to a ship, controlled by an operator, used for observation and manipulation.
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV): Untethered robotic vehicles that can operate independently underwater for data collection and mapping.
• CTD Profiling: Measurement of Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (pressure) of seawater to understand oceanographic properties.