Four men have been just named as the first Indian astronauts who will fly to space in India’s first manned moon mission Gaganyaan next year. But it is Vyommitra, the first woman robot, who will fly uncrewed mission this year that precedes Gaganyaan launch.
The message is unmissable. The female humanoid developed by Indian space agency ISRO is perfectly on the lines India’s policy of giving precedence to women in the frontiers of science. It is not a coincidence that the Chandrayan’s Deputy Project Director director behind the landing on Indian mission on the far side of moon is a woman – Kalpana Kalahasti, an IITian with Aeronautical Engineering. More and more women than ever before are opting for sciences and engineering as career, though we are still way behind advanced countries such as Russia, Japan, China and Europe.
Nevertheless, the humanoid Vyommitra will be more than just a robot for many girls in science stream aspiring to do something in the world of aerospace. The choice of gender for the robot will be inspiring as well as assuring to these young minds.
Vyommitra can respond to the environment, generate warnings, replace carbon dioxide canisters, and operate switches, monitor of the crew module, receive voice commands, and responding to questions from the mission control centre.
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 the queries. Vyommitra astronaut is designed in such a manner so as to simulate human functions in the space environment and interact with the life support system.
In a run up to the launch of India’s first-ever manned space flight named Gaganyaan, the first Test Vehicle Flight was accomplished on 21st October last year. This was meant to qualify the crew escape system and parachute system.T he human rating of the launch vehicle is complete. All the propulsion stages are qualified. All the preparations are in place.
While the uncrewed unmanned robot flight Vyommitra will take place later this year, Gaganyaan will be launched next year.
The Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human space capabilities by launching a crew of astronauts into an orbit of 400 Kilometres and then bringing back these human astronauts safely to earth by landing them in India’s sea waters.
Union Minister of Science & Technology; and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has also disclosed that Indian version of space staiton Bharatiya Antariksh Station will be developed by ISRO and is in conceptualization phase, wherein the overall architecture, number and type of modules, docking ports are being studied.
It will be assembled in a phased manner. Towards this, a prospective roadmap is being evolved for realization of different modules and their respective launches. The future moon exploration missions are also is under conceptualization, with feasibility studies being undertaken for further robotic exploration of moon through orbiters, landers and rovers, along with lunar sample collection and return, eventually followed by human landing on the Moon.
