Microgravity Drop Pod Deployed From Drone Over UK

Space.com

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

Transcript

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]

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