The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) introduced Vyommitra at a conference on human space flight in the south Indian city of Bengaluru recently.
And who is Vyommitra?
She is a half-humanoid that will make her first travel to space later this year as part of an unmanned mission. She will be sent to space as a precursor to Gaganyaan (Sky Vehicle), which will be launched by ISRO in late 2021 or early 2022. She will simulate human functions required for space before the astronauts take off.
Vyommitra will participate in two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021.
Vyommitra, which translates to ‘friend in space,’ is designed to perform a range of functions such as switch panel operations, and environment control and life support systems functions. She can also strike a conversation with astronauts and respond to their queries.
She introduced herself at the symposium by saying,”Hello everyone. I am Vyommitra, the prototype of the half-humanoid, been made for the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission.”
She has been created by the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit based in Thiruvananthapuram in the South Indian state of Kerala. Her body stops at the torso and she has no feet and hence is called a half-humanoid. She can speak two languages and can lip-sync to speech.
Vyommitra was introduced by the Chairman of ISRO, K. Sivan and the Principal Scientific Advisor K. Vijay Raghavan.
We wish ISRO the best for its space missions!
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