Westcott Space Cluster has been chosen by Skyports as a drone operations centre of excellence.
Drone capabilities will grow at Westcott Space Cluster as top drone services firm Skyports chooses the south of England location as its European headquarters and centre of competence.
Skyports plans to utilise the state-of-the-art facilities at Westcott Space Cluster to remotely manage its Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone missions in collaboration with the Satellite Applications Catapult, which works with UK business to boost innovation and economic growth.
Skyports plans to use the site as a global command and control centre for drone delivery, survey, and surveillance missions, leveraging the station’s multi-redundant internet networking capabilities to enable remote flight operations from anywhere on the planet. In addition, the station will be developed as a centre of excellence for the company’s world-class pilots.
The Westcott site is known for its creative technological development and services, which have expanded across many industries such as space, healthcare, agriculture, engineering, and manufacturing, and is now poised to become a one-of-a-kind hub for drone operations and innovation.
Skyports is a pioneering drone services company that has completed a number of world-first operations. Ship-to-shore delivery, BVLOS drone surveying and surveillance, and medical drone logistics are just some of the sectors and use cases that Skyports serves. The company’s autonomous BVLOS capabilities considerably reduce operational lead times and overheads, making crucial services and hard-to-reach places cheaper, faster, and more dependable.
Westcott Area Manager at Satellite Applications Catapult, Martin Smye-Rumsby, said:
“I’m ecstatic that Skyports has chosen Westcott to expand their cutting-edge drone services.” Westcott has a long history of testing and development, so it’s only right that Skyports’ pioneering operations will continue at the Westcott Innovation Centre. Companies like Skyports will develop services that will improve our lives by utilising space data and technology. Skyports previously collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Argyll & Bute HSCP on a remarkable healthcare effort to enhance logistics and save time when delivering medical services in the Argyll & Bute region.”
Skyports’ Head of Drone Services, Alex Brown, said:
“Drone services have become a core option for strengthening vital services with more sustainable, cost-effective alternatives, as evidenced by our transfer to Westcott Space Cluster and collaboration with Satellite Applications Catapult.” We’re excited to relocate our operational headquarters to a location that will encourage innovation and research while also allowing us to demonstrate and expand our capabilities.”
Space clusters like Westcott, where an eco-system of established enterprises collaborates to research and produce market-leading technologies and services, are successfully driving expansion in the UK space sector.
