GUWAHATI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to send a female humanoid in unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft.
The ISRO on January 22, Wednesday unveiled the female humanoid named ‘Vyommitra’ at the inaugural session of the “Human Spaceflight and Exploration - Present Challenges and Future Trends”. The robot is a prototype of humanoid and will go as a trial before the Gaganyaan goes up with the astronauts.
Sam Dayal, an ISRO scientist revealed that ‘Vyommitra’ will be placed in the first unmanned mission under Gangayaan to stimulate most of the human body functions on an experimental basis. "It will try to stimulate a human and report back to us. We are doing this as an experiment", said Sam Dayal.
Gaganyaan will be the first-ever human space mission conceived and developed in India. ISRO will undertake two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, ISRO chairman K Sivan said on Wednesday.
ISRO plans to send ‘Vyommitra’ to space later this year using its most powerful rocket – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII.
Meanwhile, ISRO’s most ambitious Gaganyaan mission aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capability to low earth orbit for a duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days. The mission is expected to cost Rs. 10,000 crore.