But what’s causing much excitement at the NIOT right now is the arrival of Sagar Nidhi, an elegant 103.6-metre long ICE class ship, at the Chennai Port on January 11. Built by Italian ship-builder Fincantieri for Rs 232 crore, Sagar Nidhi, which is equipped to launch submersibles, will assist scientists in their sea adventure. The ship will be dedicated to the nation soon by Union Minister Kapil Sibal in a grand ceremony in Chennai.

“We are not far away from manned submersibles,” D Rajasekhar, head of NIOT vessel management cell, told The Indian Express. He disclosed that the NIOT would be soon floating global tenders for building a submersible which could cost Sibal’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences about Rs 150 crore.

“Two or three scientists can travel in the capsule to depths of up to 6,000 metres and explore the sea floor. For this we need a capsule that can withstand pressure and temperature of full ocean depth,” he said.

Besides experiencing the thrill of just being at sea depths and feeling the currents and sea conditions, scientists will be able to do a sea bottom profile and study micro-organisms. The capsule would be built to withstand 600 bar (unit of pressure) under the sea at such depths, said Rajasekhar.

Sagar Nidhi, a highly sophisticated custom-built vessel, will be used for conducting oceanic studies on the fuel of the future—gas hydrates (natural gas and water frozen together into solid substance in the ocean’s deep waters)—and search for scientific evidences about origin of life and cures for chronic diseases. The vessel has been booked for research programmes by several scientific organisations, including the IITs, the geographical institutes of Kolkata and Hyderabad and the IISc, Bangalore, till 2009.

Pointing out that the sea largely remained unexplored, Rajasekhar said: “We have the know-how, but lack resources and infrastructure.”

The institute was testing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which can go 2,000 metres deep. Hydrate reserves were available in abundance in the Bay of Bengal and India would be joining the US and the UK in the exploration. Scientists will also use the Sagar Nidhi, built to support research programmes in the polar region, to find out how bacteria and organisms thrive in temperatures as high as 80 degrees Celsius around volcanic eruptions. This, scientists believe, would help in their search for medicines for incurable diseases.

The vessel would be used for launching tsunami monitoring systems and remotely operable vehicles, for identifying mines and gas hydrates. “These systems have to be deployed precisely at a chosen location,” said Rajasekhar. The ship with its main feature, which is dynamic positioning, will give an accuracy of five metres during deployments, “the best in the world”.