INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
India is planning on sending a "female" humanoid robot called Vyommitra into space as part of an unmanned mission which could launch this
year.Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the chief of the nation's space agency, the India Space Research Organisation, described the robot as a
"half-humanoid" as it doesn't have any legs.Vyommmitra is "a woman", the head of the agency added, and will speak two languages to
communicate with mission control - and possibly in the future with astronauts.The prototype of Vyommitra was unveiled by the space agency on
Wednesday.At a media event in Bengaluru, the robot appeared to show off its dexterity, although it isn't clear why the use of a physical
robot to flip a switch would be more useful than software to automate the task.Mr Sivan suggested to the Times of India that the mission was
about inspiring Indians as well as simply establishing the nation's presence in space.Vyommmitra is the latest signal of India's ambitious
intentions in outer space following the failed mission to get a lunar lander on the surface of the moon.The Indian Space Research
Organisation lost touch with the Vikram lander as it approached the moon's south pole earlier this month, and it was not clear whether it
had crashed or landed.The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which has cost roughly $140m (£114m), was intended to study the permanently shadowed moon
craters for signs of water, which were first confirmed by the Chandrayaan-1 mission more than 11 years ago.Image:India's Prime Minister
Narendra Modi watched the failed launchNASA eventually located the debris from the lost lunar lander's hard crash on the lunar surface, with
help from an amateur astronomer.NASA then conducted additional scans of the area with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter before officially
announcing that the remains of Vikram had been identified, almost two months after it crashed.
