Gravitilab successfully created a microgravity environment using a 'drop pod' and a drone.
Watch footage of the flight which took off from Predannack Range in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Credit: Gravitilab
Watch footage of the flight which took off from Predannack Range in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Credit: Gravitilab
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TechTranscript
00:00 [ Music ]
00:06 >> My name is Rob Adlard and I'm the CEO
00:08 of Gravity Lab Aerospace Services.
00:10 What we're trying to do is to reduce the barriers
00:13 and increase access to microgravity for the purposes
00:16 of scientific research and testing and development
00:18 of new products and services, which may ultimately be required
00:22 to be deployed in orbit or simply
00:23 to advance scientific knowledge here on Earth.
00:25 The demo that we're doing here
00:28 in Cornwall was all about testing our
00:31 Lewy microgravity system.
00:32 So we've got a big UAV, which takes
00:34 up a smaller UAV called Lewy, which then flies down to the Earth
00:38 and creates microgravity environments inside.
00:41 So removing gravity from an experiment is a little bit
00:44 like filtering a radio signal for noise.
00:47 So if you clear out the noisy bits
00:49 and then you can hear the signal clearly and see what's going on.
00:51 So similarly, removing gravity from the equation means
00:54 that then we can understand the physical processes
00:56 which are taking place more clearly.
01:00 Over the last month, all eyes have been on Cornwall due
01:04 to the horizontal launch at Spaceport Cornwall
01:06 by Virgin Orbit.
01:07 And now we've got Gravity Lab here doing a world-first
01:10 microgravity test with a drone using this Cornwall space
01:13 cluster, the ecosystem, the funding,
01:15 the support that Cornwall offers.
01:18 So the UK strategy to develop the space sector is
01:21 to establish space clusters
01:22 and the Cornish space cluster is one of the longest established.
01:25 And as such, it's been attracting people to come
01:27 and do work here, to locate their companies here
01:30 and their expertise is here and sites such as Prydainic
01:33 where we're operating today, which are really important
01:35 and really, really useful.
01:37 So that's why we're visiting Cornwall is to be able to make use
01:39 of a site and some of the airspace expertise here.
01:44 We're a company called Holeship.
01:46 We're a Cornish-based company
01:47 that provide airspace infrastructure and expertise
01:52 to help people develop uncrewed air systems or drones.
01:57 Holeship operates the Lizard Range
01:59 from the Ministry of Defence site here at Prydainic
02:03 and we provide access to the danger areas,
02:07 the segregated airspace that sits over the top
02:10 of where we are now and flows out over the ocean,
02:13 an area that's about 2,500 square miles,
02:16 5,500 square kilometres.
02:18 It's a big piece of airspace and we provide our customers
02:21 with access to that to test and evaluate UAS
02:26 or uncrewed air systems, drones in that airspace
02:30 so that they can fly beyond visual line of sight.
02:32 So the operation was really successful.
02:49 It's been an incredibly exciting, tiring day,
02:52 but we're really thrilled here that we've been able
02:53 to create microgravity for the first time
02:55 using our microgravity drop pod.
02:57 (dramatic music)
03:00 (music)
03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]