India has taken a major step toward human deep-sea exploration with the completion of its deepest underwater training missions to date. These milestone dives, conducted in collaboration with France, lay the groundwork for the country’s first manned deep-ocean expedition under the Samudrayaan project. On August 14 and 15, 2025, off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean, two Indian aquanauts set national records using the French submersible Nautile.
On August 15, retired Navy Commander Jatinder Pal Singh reached a depth of 5,002 metres, shattering the previous national record of 670 metres. The day before, scientist R. Ramesh descended to 4,025 metres.
These missions form part of the training and validation phase for Samudrayaan, which aims to send a three-member crew to a depth of 6,000 metres aboard an indigenously developed submersible by 2027–28.
Training for the....
