29-year-old Kaylon Paterson, C.E.O of Paterson Aerospace Systems Corporation and former Space Systems Engineer with the United States Space Force (USAF), will become the fourth Trinbagonian to fly in zero gravity, when he participates in the 2023 Aurelia Horizon flight scheduled for September 22.
Paterson’s flight follows the accomplishments of Karen Braun who became the first Trinbagonian to fly in zero gravity in the 1990’s, Dr. Camille Wardrope Alleyne in 2004, and Dr. Aaron Persaud who followed thereafter.
Paterson was selected to fly a scientific payload on a zero g flight, by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Aerospace Special Interest Group (SIG), with the flight itself funded by the Aurelia Institute. He will become one of the 15 fliers in the 2023 Horizon cohort.
“The objective of the project is to understand how machine learning (ML) algorithms keep track of objects in randomised motion. There is only so much testing that can be done within gravitational constraints, but reduced gravity provides an opportunity for better randomisation of motion and therefore more robust training data,” Paterson explained.
