News

New Zealand’s first satellite designed and built by university students is about to be launched into space via Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle.
November 14, 2020
University of Auckland students conceived, designed and built the satellite which they have named Te Waka Āmiorangi o Aotearoa (the New Zealand satellite vessel) APSS-1. It will be lofted to sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km altitude as one of 30 satellites aboard Rocket Lab’s 16th Electron launch this month. The launch will take place from Rocket Lab’s launch site on the Māhia Peninsula.

PhD student Darcey Graham presents “Low Thrust transfers to Interplanetary Trajectories” at AAS/AIAA 2020 Specialist Conference
August 15, 2020
Darcey is leading Te Pūnaha Ātea’s research on interplanetary trajectory optimization, and as part of this work has obtained an Earth-Venus trajectory, optimized assuming a low delta-v thrust system. Watch Darcey’s presentation at: https://youtu.be/Eey1Te4MOVY

Te Pūnaha Ātea researcher leads collaboration with NASA, Air New Zealand and MBIE to collect climate data from aircraft
Feb 25, 2020
NASA is partnering with the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand Space Agency, Air New Zealand and the University of Auckland to install next-generation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry receivers on passenger aircraft to collect environmental science data over New Zealand.

New professor at Auckland wins major award for cleaning up space junk
Dec 2, 2019
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti has joined the Faculty of Engineering as the inaugural director of Te Pūnaha Ātea – Space Institute.

New Zealand’s space sector heading towards being a billion dollar industry
Dec 2, 2019
Te Pūnaha Ātea – Space Institute Aerospace engineer Dr. John Cater was recently interviewed by Newstalk ZB about New Zealand’s growing space industry. You can listen to the full interview here.