Today, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) declared a collaboration with ISRO- Indian Space Research Organization in order to curate a training module for Indian Spaceflight Programme.

IIT Madras and ISRO signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) for collaboration on the application of Extended Reality (XR) and other technologies in the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. This training module will be built based on Augmented Reality (AR)/Mixed Reality (MR)/Virtual Reality (VR).

According to the collaboration guidelines, ISRO would use the advanced technologies developed at the eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in order to boost Research & Development (R&D) in the area of Extended Reality.

The collaboration between the two parties will lead to the modelling and simulation of human physiology, space systems, visualisation and optimisation of design architecture, outreach activities, and training of ISRO scientists in developing their own Extended Reality (XR) systems.

Principle Investigator of XTIC-IIT Madras, Professor M. Manivannan, said Extended Reality Technologies could add value to many elements of human spaceflight programs, specifically in shortening the design cycle and affecting the space environment. We will begin with developing models of physiological systems and design optimization studies. IIT Madras ecosystem is facilitative not only for research but also for development with our industrial consortium.

News Source: The Indian Express