Vesta Survey Field Week

During field week, Valkyrie Survey Corvette trainees put their proximity skills to work on real targets. Crews fly survey grids over asteroids near Vesta, collecting lidar and gravimetry data for prospecting teams who will use it to decide where to drill.

Instructor Nadia Sato leads the week and reviews every crew's data. On the final day, Chief Examiner Thabo Sithole conducts the field survey assessment required for the Valkyrie Survey Corvette Type Rating.

Prospecting guilds and mining cooperatives are invited to propose survey targets and meet the crews.

Crews live aboard their Valkyries for the full four days, flying survey passes in shifts and processing data between sorties. The week ends with a debrief where prospecting teams explain how they will use the results and which targets they plan to drill.