In News: In the Union Budget 2023-24, Deep Ocean Mission has been allocated Rs 600 crore
Deep Ocean Mission:
It aims to explore marine biodiversity for the sustainable use of resources
It is overseen by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
It includes myriad of activities such as a manned submersible, ship-building, exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity and identification of mineral deposits in the deep ocean
A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean
In 2016, India was awarded a 15-year contract to explore an area of 75,000 square kilometres for mining polymetallic nodules from the Central Indian Ocean Basin at depths of 5,000-6,000 metres.
The other components of the mission include developing ocean climate change advisory services and designing offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plants.
Significance
Oceans are storehouses of food, energy, minerals, and medicines.
It also modulates weather and climate.
Deep-sea mining involves extracting ores rich in cobalt, manganese, zinc and other rare metals from the sea floor.
They contain critical minerals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy capacity, smartphones and laptops.