India to fly ‘woman robot’ to space ahead of ambitious Gaganyaan crewed mission

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India is planning to fly a female-looking robotic astronaut to space ahead of its ambitious Gaganyaan crewed space flight mission carrying Indian astronauts.

The robotic astronaut, dubbed Vyommitra – “Vyoma” which means space, and “Mitra” which means pal in Sanskrit – is scheduled for flight within the third quarter of this yr, whereas the Gaganyaan crewed mission is slated to be launched subsequent yr, India’s science and expertise minister Jitendra Singh mentioned.

Gaganyaan plans to show human capabilities in space by launching a 3 member crew right into a low-Earth orbit of 400km altitude in a 5ton capsule for about three days, and produce them again safely by touchdown in India’s sea waters.

Mr Singh advised reporters on Sunday that the “Vyommitra” robotic astronaut is designed to simulate human features and work together with the space capsule’s life assist system as half of the mission.

The humanoid robotic was first unveiled in January 2020 on the Human Spaceflight and Exploration symposium in Bengaluru.

Isro mentioned it hopes to fly robots as a substitute of animals onboard experimental missions to perceive what weightlessness and radiation within the space atmosphere might do to people.

The company hopes for such a robotic to assist the crew monitor module parameters, function panels, reply to queries, and simulate features like people in future missions.

In October final yr, prime minister Narendra Modi directed Isro’s high leaders to goal for brand new and ambitious space mission targets, together with placing an Indian on the Moon and establishing the nation’s personal indigenous space station by 2035.

Isro arrange a Human Space Flight Centre in Bengaluru to practice astronauts for the longer term, together with the crew that might be half of the Gaganyaan mission.

Astronauts are getting ready for the mission on the Bengaluru facility, together with bodily health and medical coaching, yoga, flight swimsuit coaching and by operating simulations, in accordance to Isro.

The crew could put on Russian-made spacesuits for the mission, the Hindustan Times reported final month, regardless of hypothesis that indigenously made fits could also be used.

They will take off within the company’s heavy raise launcher LVM-3 reconfigured for the crewed mission in 2025.