DNA
- New ship Sagar Nidhi arrives on Friday to facilitate pioneering marine research
Chennai, Jan 8 (mb): Indian scientists will soon go where no man had gone before - 6,000 metres under the sea - to come up with answers to chronic diseases, fuel for hundreds of years and probably clues about the origin of life. Facilitating such pioneering deep sea reseach will be Sagar Nidhi, a technology demonstration vessel the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai has procured from Italian ship-builder Fincantieri for Rs232 crore. The vessel, which arrives at the Chennai port on January 11, has been booked by leading scientific institutions till 2009.
“Across the globe, deep sea remains largely unexplored though we know it holds immense treasures. Indian scientists had the knowhow, but lacked infrastructure. Sagar Nidhi will fill this gap,” says D Rajasekhar, head of NIOT vessel management cell. The institute is testing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which can go 2,000 metres deep, while a submersible capsule that can take scientists as deep as 6,000 metres is in the pipeline.
One of the most promising finds would be gas hydrates - natural gases frozen to crystals in sub-zero temperatures beneath the sea bed - which are in abundance in the Bay of Bengal. Such hydrate reserves are estimated to hold more fuel than what the world has consumed so far. “Russians and Australians have done some gas hydrate explorations on land. India will be joining the US and the UK in the hunt for the future fuel under the sea,” says Rajasekhar.