During this intensive week, the students are introduced to the many facets of the Dutch space sector. They visit knowledge institutions, space organisations, and innovative companies, attend workshops, and work together on challenges that bring different disciplines together.

As part of this programme, Unmanned Valley hosted an inspiring session in which the students were introduced to the world of drones and autonomous systems.

During his presentation, Theo de Vries, director at Unmanned Valley, demonstrated how closely the worlds of space and drones are connected: “𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤. 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐩, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟐𝟎 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬.”

The students gained insight into the history of Unmanned Valley, our testing capabilities, and future developments, including 𝐁𝐕𝐋𝐎𝐒 (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. They were also introduced to various innovations being developed and tested at and around Unmanned Valley, such as 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬, and applications like 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭, where drones contribute to new possibilities for safety and emergency response.

Then it was time to get hands-on! Guided by our drone instructor Alex, the students set out with six drones to locate two missing model aircraft on the Unmanned Valley grounds. The first team managed to find the aircraft in just 30 seconds. The second mission proved more challenging due to a cleverly camouflaged hiding spot, which sparked keen collaboration and plenty of enthusiasm.

For many students, this was their first experience piloting a drone. And they did an excellent job: at the end of the session, all drones were still completely intact. 😉

As an extra surprise, the students also received a demonstration of the humanoid robot from Unmanned Valley resident StormCatch, which drew a lot of attention with its smooth movements.

We look back on a highly successful and inspiring morning and thank all the students for their curiosity.