SEA DREAMS

Work on Mission Samudrayaan, India’s daring deep-sea crewed voyage—set to be launched in 2024—is in full swing. THE WEEK explores the details of the ambitious project

- REKHA DIXIT

It is a steel sphere, around 14 feet high, mounted on a pedestal. I clamber a vertical ladder to reach the hatch on top, then descend another ladder to enter an alternate world. The “room” comprises a small seat for a pilot; around the inner walls runs another seat, which can take in another two passengers on either side of the pilot. My hosts squeeze in to make place for me, retracting the ladder and slotting it against the back wall, as I look around. There is a panel in front and a host of knobs and switches. Three small portholes are the windows to the outside. There are rows of oxygen canisters along the walls and two carbon dioxide scrubbers. Once the hatch is closed, we will be sealed off completely; the oxygen canisters will release life-giving air slowly, while the scrubbers will filter the air in the cabin, removing carbon dioxide from it. It looks like a space capsule, except that there is gravity here.

This is the prototype of the human quarters of Matsya 6000, India’s human submersible, that hopes to take three aquanauts to the bottom of the Indian Ocean, some 6,000m below sea level. Work on Mission Samudrayaan, the country’s daring deep-sea crewed voyage—planned to be launched in 2024—is in full swing.