Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan on Wednesday said the space agency will undertake two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, PTI reported. He added that the Gaganyaan mission, or the human space flight, will ensure India’s continuous presence in space in the future.

“We are doing all this [Gaganyaan] on three points – short term plan of two unmanned mission in December 2020 and June 2021, followed by human space flight demonstration in December 2021,” Sivan said at a three-day symposium on human space flight and exploration in Bengaluru.

ISRO will send a robot named Vyomamitra in the unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft. At the session, the robot was programmed to introduce itself by saying: “I am the prototype of the a half-humanoid being made for the Gaganyaan mission – I can monitor biological parameters, alert you and perform life support operations. I can make all activities like switch panel operation, functions, and more”.

Sivan told reporters that the robot will simulate human functions in space and interact with the environment control life support system. “It will check whether the system is right,” he added. “This will be very useful to simulate, as if a human is flying.”