According to sources before orbiting astronauts on India's first manned mission to space in december 2021, the indian Space Research Organisation will send 'Vyommitra', a 'lady robot' in the unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft. Meanwhile the robot was the centre of attraction at the inaugural session of the "Human Spaceflight and Exploration Present Challenges and Future Trends" here on Wednesday.
Accordingly Vyommitra, a combination of two sanskrit words Vyoma (Space) and Mitra (Friend), took everyone by surprise when she introduced herself to the audience gathered there. The robot said "Hello everyone. I am Vyommitra, the prototype of the half-humanoid, been made for the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission". Further explaining about the role in the mission, she said, "I can monitor through module parameters, alert you and perform life support operations. I can perform activities like switch panel operations."
Moreover isro chairman K Sivan told reporters the half humanoid will simulate human functions in space and also interact with the environment control life support system. He added "It will be simulating exactly the human functions there (in space). It will check whether the system is right. This will be very useful to simulate, as if a human is flying". Previously addressing the inaugural function, Sivan said ahead of the launch of India's maiden human spaceflight venture 'Gaganyaan' in december 2021, isro will undertake two unmanned missions in december 2020 and june 2021 and 'Vyommitra' will fly in them.
