We are proud to officially announce the new name of our uncrewed traffic management platform: Vega UTM.
What made us choose this name?
Vega is a unique star. More than twice the size of our sun and only 25 light-years away, it burns a brilliant blue-white, and in some northern latitudes never dips below the horizon. It's part of the Summer Triangle and also signals the coming of summer.
This jewel of the night sky features in more than a few myths and legends. To the ancient Greeks, Vega was the handle of Orpheus’ famed lyre, with which he could charm anything. The Native American Ojibwe people called Vega the Great Chief Star and believed that it ruled all the others. In Chinese myth, Vega was the Weaving Princess, kept separated from the Cowherd (Altair) and their two children (Beta and Gamma Aquilae) by the Heavenly River (the Milky Way).
In modern times, Vega was the first star (apart from our sun) to be captured in a photograph, and later the first to be spectrally analyzed, making it an important basis for the study of other stars.
So, why did we call our UTM system Vega? Because stars like Vega are constant features of our sky. Once their patterns are observed, they can be relied upon to follow the same behaviors every night, generation after generation. That’s why they feature in so many stories, and that’s why they have been used as navigation aids since before human history began. Even today, with all our technology, it’s comforting to know that you will always be able to depend on the stars to light the dark and show you the way to go.
The purpose of our UTM is to provide a constant guide in the sky. It’s a system that collects and shares data that illuminates the dark, preventing accidents and providing protection to travelers. Just like the star, High Lander’s Vega is a feature of the sky that people around the world can depend upon to help them navigate the heavens.
When we were thinking of a new name for our UTM system, we thought about how we’re building something big, something that will stand the test of time and be used for generations to come. Then we looked to the sky for inspiration, and the answer was right there: Vega 🌟
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