Indian Oceanographic Research Vessel RV Samudra Ratnakar commissioned

[kurup]

Kandla: India on Saturday commissioned a deep sea exploration ship RV Samudra Ratnakar at Kandla Port. The state-of-the-art acquisition by Geological Survey of India (GSI) will enable modern geo-scientific oceanographic researches. The Ship has been built by M/s. Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Ulsan, South Korea. The ship arrived at Kandla Port on 8th October 2013 and will commence marine geoscientific surveys and exploration activities in January, 2014 after conducting sea trials of certain survey equipment in deep sea upto 4500m and on-board training to the geoscientists of GSI by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).

The research vessel is 103 m long, 13 m wide and can travel at an average speed of 11.4 knots. It will be used for survey and exploration of the seabed in Indian and international waters at depths of 10,000 m. The vessel is equipped with Lankhorst Ropes’ steel wire ropes, specifically two 8,000m LANKOPACK and one 6×36 WS+IWRC steel wire ropes for use on the vessel’s traction winch, auxiliary winch drum and general purpose winch.

The RV Samudra Ratnakar is the first all weather ship (under Indian Flag) to be built under SPS -2008 code and is classified as a Dual Class (DNV and IRS) Ship. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is responsible for manning the ship along with all the existing research vessels of GSI. Norinko, an Indian firm which has expertise in this field has tied up with SCI for manning and maintenance.

RV Samudra Ratnakar is an all-weather ship fitted with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), Heading and Motion sensors and Dynamic Positioning System to keep it stationary during coring operations. The vessel is 103.4m long, 19.2m wide with a draft of 6m. It can continuously sail for 45 days and can cruise at a maximum speed of 14 knots. It can accommodate 73 persons at a time. This number includes 25 Geoscientists. It is proposed to organize 215 cruises of 45 days each.

The vessel is fitted with various multi-disciplinary scientific equipments like Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), Deep and Shallow Multibeam Sonars, Single Beam Echo sounder, Sub-bottom Profiler, Acoustic Positioning System, Single Streamer Multi-channel Seismic system (960 channels, 6km streamer), Marine Magnetometer and gradiometer, Marine Gravimeter, Side Scan Sonar, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), Heat-flow Measuring system, Current Meter, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) system, Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) system and Underwater Camera. Sampling devices include Piston Coring system (30m), Vibro Corer (8-10m), Grabs, Spade Corer, Dredger, Core Splitter, Core Cutter, X-Ray Core Scanner and Water Sampler to collect sea water at various depths. A robust Marine Data Management system is in place to integrate and collate all the data received from various equipments.

GSI plans to collaborate with other National Organizations like National Centre for Antarctic and Offshore Research (NCAOR), National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), National Institute of Oceanography, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) etc., which are working in marine domain and launch exploration for deep sea mineral deposits like Poly-metallic nodules, hydrothermal sulphide deposits containing base metals along with gold, cobalt, nickel and silver and cobalt-nickel encrustations. It will help in creation of much valuable database and locating potential zones of mineral deposits for strategic utilization.

R.V. Samudra Ratnakar has the capability to explore and identify the favourable zone of accumulation of Gas Hydrates, which are known to be the future source of hydro-carbon energy.

 

[thesolar65]

Kandla: India on Saturday commissioned a deep sea exploration ship RV Samudra Ratnakar at Kandla Port. The state-of-the-art acquisition by Geological Survey of India (GSI) will enable modern geo-scientific oceanographic researches. The Ship has been built by M/s. Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Ulsan, South Korea. The ship arrived at Kandla Port on 8th October 2013 and will commence marine geoscientific surveys and exploration activities in January, 2014 after conducting sea trials of certain survey equipment in deep sea upto 4500m and on-board training to the geoscientists of GSI by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).

The research vessel is 103 m long, 13 m wide and can travel at an average speed of 11.4 knots. It will be used for survey and exploration of the seabed in Indian and international waters at depths of 10,000 m. The vessel is equipped with Lankhorst Ropes’ steel wire ropes, specifically two 8,000m LANKOPACK and one 6×36 WS+IWRC steel wire ropes for use on the vessel’s traction winch, auxiliary winch drum and general purpose winch.

The RV Samudra Ratnakar is the first all weather ship (under Indian Flag) to be built under SPS -2008 code and is classified as a Dual Class (DNV and IRS) Ship. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is responsible for manning the ship along with all the existing research vessels of GSI. Norinko, an Indian firm which has expertise in this field has tied up with SCI for manning and maintenance.

RV Samudra Ratnakar is an all-weather ship fitted with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), Heading and Motion sensors and Dynamic Positioning System to keep it stationary during coring operations. The vessel is 103.4m long, 19.2m wide with a draft of 6m. It can continuously sail for 45 days and can cruise at a maximum speed of 14 knots. It can accommodate 73 persons at a time. This number includes 25 Geoscientists. It is proposed to organize 215 cruises of 45 days each.

The vessel is fitted with various multi-disciplinary scientific equipments like Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), Deep and Shallow Multibeam Sonars, Single Beam Echo sounder, Sub-bottom Profiler, Acoustic Positioning System, Single Streamer Multi-channel Seismic system (960 channels, 6km streamer), Marine Magnetometer and gradiometer, Marine Gravimeter, Side Scan Sonar, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), Heat-flow Measuring system, Current Meter, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) system, Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) system and Underwater Camera. Sampling devices include Piston Coring system (30m), Vibro Corer (8-10m), Grabs, Spade Corer, Dredger, Core Splitter, Core Cutter, X-Ray Core Scanner and Water Sampler to collect sea water at various depths. A robust Marine Data Management system is in place to integrate and collate all the data received from various equipments.

GSI plans to collaborate with other National Organizations like National Centre for Antarctic and Offshore Research (NCAOR), National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), National Institute of Oceanography, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) etc., which are working in marine domain and launch exploration for deep sea mineral deposits like Poly-metallic nodules, hydrothermal sulphide deposits containing base metals along with gold, cobalt, nickel and silver and cobalt-nickel encrustations. It will help in creation of much valuable database and locating potential zones of mineral deposits for strategic utilization.

R.V. Samudra Ratnakar has the capability to explore and identify the favourable zone of accumulation of Gas Hydrates, which are known to be the future source of hydro-carbon energy.

Can it be utilized for Antarctica Expedition also?

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Can it be utilized for Antarctica Expedition also?

I do not think so; its not built to Ice Class Notation. But the NCAOR and NIO have plans to acquire a suitable Ship for that purpose too. I recall reading some place that the necessary inquiries have already made with ship-yards in Scandinavia and Germany.

 

[kurup]

I do not think so; its not built to Ice Class Notation. But the NCAOR and NIO have plans to acquire a suitable Ship for that purpose too. I recall reading some place that the necessary inquiries have already made with ship-yards in Scandinavia and Germany.

India to acquire icebreaker worth Rs 800 cr for polar exploration - Times Of India

 

[Capt.Popeye]

India to acquire icebreaker worth Rs 800 cr for polar exploration - Times Of India

Yes that is it. So far India has been chartering ships from Norway and I think twice from Germany. The first expeditions to Antarctica were with a Norwegian ship the M/V Polarsirkel . Chartering then made sense; because to start with India did not even have a continous presence in Antarctica, then India set up permanent Stations there later. Also Indians had little experience in Ice Navigation which expertise had to be built up. Now its all coming together.