Type: Prelims Only

Why in the news?

India’s 4th generation deep-ocean submersible Matsya-6000 has successfully completed wet testing at Chennai harbor, paving the way for shallow-water demonstrations at depths of up to 500 meters by 2025.

About Matsya-6000

• Made of titanium alloy to withstand extreme oceanic pressure.
• Built with a 2.1-meter diameter sphere to accommodate three crew members.
• Moves at speed of 5.5 km/hr using multidirectional thrusters.
• Uses GPS, underwater acoustic positioning, and joystick-controlled maneuverability.
• Operates for 12 hours, with an emergency endurance of 96 hours.
• Includes emergency buoyancy modules and high–pressure-resistant escape hatches.
• Features robotic arms for sample collection.
• Uses high–resolution imaging and oceanographic sensors for deep-sea research.
• Future Trials:
  • Shallow-water tests up to 500m planned by late 2025.
  • Full deep-sea trials at 6,000m scheduled for 2026.

What is Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)?

• • The DOM launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in 2021, aims to enhance India’s deep-sea exploration capabilities while supporting the Blue Economy policy.
  • It focuses on resource utilization, climate monitoring, and marine biodiversity conservation.

• Objectives of DOM:

• Develop advanced technologies for ocean mining, biodiversity assessment, and deep-sea surveillance.

• • Enable climate change research through real-time ocean data collection.
  • Establish a Marine Station for Ocean Biology for research on marine ecosystems and pharmaceuticals.
  • Support the Samudrayaan Mission, which includes the development of Matsya-6000, India’s first deep-ocean human submersible.

• Structural Mandate of DOM:

• • Deep-ocean survey and identification of polymetallic nodule and sulfide deposits.
  • Harnessing ocean energy through wave, tidal, and thermal sources.

Why in the News?

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid Space Telescope has captured a rare Einstein Ring around a galaxy nearly 590 million light-years away from Earth.

What is an Einstein Ring?

• An Einstein Ring is a circular ring of light caused by gravitational lensing, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
• It occurs when a massive celestial object (like a galaxy) bends and magnifies light from a more distant background galaxy that lies directly behind it.
• The recent discovery by ESA’s Euclid telescope identified an Einstein Ring around NGC 6505, located 590 million light-years away, acting as a lens for a distant galaxy 4.42 billion light-years away.
• Features of an Einstein Ring:
  • Perfect circular shape (only if source, lens, and observer align precisely).
  • Example of strong gravitational lensing, distorting background light.
  • Extremely rare (found in less than 1% of galaxies).
  • Not visible to the naked eye, observed only with advanced space telescopes like Euclid or Hubble.

Significance of the Discovery:

• Reveals Dark Matter: Helps indirectly map dark matter, which makes up 85% of the universe.
• Magnifies Hidden Galaxies: Makes faint, distant galaxies visible for study.
• Measures Universe’s Expansion: Tracks how light stretches over time, refining cosmological models.
• Confirms Einstein’s Theory: Proves light bends in curved space-time, supporting gravitational lensing theory.
• Demonstrates Euclid’s Capabilities: Shows Euclid’s high-resolution potential, promising more discoveries.