Gravity measurement sensors map subterranean environment

A UK consortium of companies and universities is developing new quantum cold-atom sensors that will detect and monitor objects beneath the ground better than existing technology, reducing the need for time-consuming and disruptive drilling or digging.

The Gravity Pioneer project, which has been awarded £6m in funding from UK Research and Innovation, is planning to develop a device that is twice as sensitive and ten times faster than existing gravity sensors.

Current techniques to search underground typically involve either the use of technologies such as ground-penetrating radar or classical microgravity, or simply the digging of holes, according to George Tuckwell, project lead and divisional director for geosciences and engineering at consultancy RSK, which is leading the project.

“The technologies are fundamentally limited by the resolution of the instruments, and in some cases by the particular ground or environmental conditions of a given site,” said Tuckwell.