Woman Robot Astronaut ’Vyommitra’ to fly into space ahead of Gaganyaan mission
India's first human-manned space flight, Gaganyaan, will be preceded by an uncrewed mission called Vyommitra, a robot astronaut equipped to simulate human functions in space.
Woman Robot Astronaut 'Vyommitra' will fly into space ahead of ISRO's ambitious Gaganyaan mission, which will be India's first human-manned space flight carrying Indian astronauts into space.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh made this announcement in Delhi during an interaction with the media persons on Sunday.
"The uncrewed "Vyommitra" mission is scheduled for the third quarter of this year while a manned mission "Gaganyaan" is scheduled to be launched next year, that is 2025," Singh said.
He explained that Vyommitra is a name derived from two Sanskrit words, namely, "Vyoma" (meaning space) and "Mitra" (meaning friend).
This female robot astronaut is equipped with the capability to monitor module parameters, issue alerts, and execute life support operations. It can perform tasks such as operating six panels and responding to queries," the minister said.
Singh further elaborated that the 'Vyommitra' astronaut is designed in such a manner as to simulate human functions in the space environment and interact with the life support system.
He added that in the run-up to the launch of India's first-ever manned space flight named 'Gaganyaan', the first Test Vehicle Flight TV D1 was accomplished on October 21 last year.
This was meant to qualify the crew escape system and parachute system. The human rating of the launch vehicle is complete. All the propulsion stages are qualified. All the preparations are in place, Singh said.
While the uncrewed unmanned robot flight 'Vyommitra' will take place this year, 'Gaganyaan' will be launched next year, he said as quoted by the Ministry of Space.
The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human space capabilities by launching a crew of astronauts into an orbit of 400 kilometers and then bringing these astronauts safely back to earth by landing them in India's sea waters.
Other than the demonstration and evaluation of Test Vehicle subsystems, other objectives of the TV-D1 launch included flight demonstration and evaluation of the Crew Escape System including various separation systems, crew module characteristics; and deceleration system demonstration at higher altitudes and its recovery.