August 15, 2025

NEW DELHI: Get ready for a double dose of Indian pride! In a never-seen-before adventure, India sent an aquanaut a jaw-dropping 5,002 meters deep into the ocean. This brave journey is part of the Deep Ocean Mission, which is all about exploring the ocean’s hidden treasures using advanced crewed and uncrewed submersibles and mining technology. The big goal? To tap into resources from India’s Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf. Here’s the scoop on the exciting Indo-French partnership: Two Indian aquanauts, Jatinder Pal Singh and Raju Ramesh, took thrilling deep dives in the North Atlantic Ocean using the French submersible "Nautile." On August 5, Raju Ramesh, a scientist from the National Institute of Ocean Technology, dived 4,025 meters deep. The very next day, Navy Commander (retd) Jatinder Pal Singh dove even deeper, reaching 5,002 meters! Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh called this a “double conquest” because it came right after Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to go to the International Space Station just a month ago. "We have an Indian going into space and an Indian going into the deep ocean almost simultaneously," he said, highlighting India’s growing powers both in space and under the sea. M Ravichandran, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, explained, "This expedition was conducted as part of the Deep Ocean Mission. One of the verticals of DOM aims to develop technology to harness non-living ocean resources and a submersible which can carry humans to the deepest parts of the ocean." The adventure is far from over! More dives are planned with the French submersible before India’s own super cool craft, the indigenous 'Matsya 6000,' takes the plunge. This next big ocean explorer could make its first dive around December 2027 under the 'Samudrayaan' project. In other exciting news, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, hailed as space hero number two from India and the first to visit the ISS, is expected back home this weekend. He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi before heading to his hometown in Lucknow, shared space minister Jitendra Singh. Shukla will also join the grand National Space Day celebrations in Delhi on August 23. India’s space and sea dreams are sailing high and diving deep, truly making waves on Earth and beyond!

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Tags: India deep ocean mission, Aquanaut, Deep-sea dive, International space station, Matsya 6000, Indo-french collaboration,