Science, Discovery, Tech and Environment · 2 December 2025
Delay in French Syntactic Foam Procurement Delays India’s Samudrayaan Mission
Exam-focused facts from the 2 December 2025 current affairs briefing.
Key facts
- Samudrayaan consists of a sphere capable of plunging to a depth of 6,000 metres into the ocean.
- National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, leads the Samudrayaan project and has built a steel replica of the submersible as a simulator.
- Syntactic foam cladding gives the submersible buoyancy and allows it to float.
- Syntactic foam is developed in France and being tested in Norway.
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is making two titanium hulls for NIOT.
- Final titanium hull will be tested in Russia for pressure at 6,000 metres.
- Mission aims to collect soil and rock samples pivotal to India’s plans to mine precious metals from the high seas.