Deep-ocean submersible Matsya-6000’s 500-m trial dive in early 2027: MoES secretary Srinivasa Kumar Tummala

Srinivasa Kumar Tummala

The 500-metre trial dive of India’s deep-ocean submersible Matsya-6000 can be expected early next year (2027), Srinivasa Kumar Tummala, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has said. The trial dive will be a significant step towards India’s push to send a crewed vehicle to a depth of 6,000 metres under the Samudrayaan Project.

“It is planned for a January-February time-frame in 2027. We are building Matsya-6000 in phases. So the first phase will be 500-metre depth trials,” Dr. Tummala told The Hindu on the sidelines of the two-day 92nd Annual Meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc) which opened at the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday (November 13, 2026).

According to him, the Bay of Bengal will be the location for the dive. Two ‘pilots’ – or ‘aquanauts’ – from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the autonomous institute under MoES responsible for the project, are undergoing training. “Two pilots from NIOT are being trained and there could be one scientist too,” said Dr. Tummala, an oceanographer by training.

Under India’s Deep Ocean Mission, the MoES had entrusted NIOT with the task of designing and developing the ‘deep-ocean human scientific submersible’ – christened Matsya-6000 – as part of the Samudrayaan Project. The submersible will be capable of transporting three humans within its compact 2.1-metre diameter spherical hull to a mind-boggling depth of 6000 metres, giving India’s ocean exploration capabilities a significant boost. Of the several wet tests on ‘Matsya,’ the latest was conducted last week.

NIOT is working closely with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for constructing the 2.1-metre titanium hull of Matsya-6000, the MoES secretary said. “ISRO has a lot of experience. There are very few countries that are able to build a 2.1-metre (diameter) titanium sphere,” he said.

“What we are doing with Matsya-6000 is very challenging. For example, you need to build systems pressure-rated for 6,000-metre depth. At that depth, the pressure is about 600 bar. So you have to build systems rated for 700 to 750 bars. And you need to build human life-support systems,” he said.

Despite the challenges involved, Samudrayaan and Matsya-6000 have not garnered the kind of public appeal that ISRO’s own Gaganyaan programme has been enjoying. Yet, both initiatives share elements, the MoES secretary said.

“The life-support system for the crew module that you have in Gaganyaan is similar to what you need for Matsya-6000. Both need to be human-rated. You need oxygen and you need to scrub the carbon dioxide. There are several aspects that we learn from each other,” he said.