The Aerospace Summit 2024 is the third conference of its kind. It was very well attended, with around 650 participants. It included a delegation from the Earth and Space Sciences Teachers Association, which was really awesome to see. We are associated members of Aerospace New Zealand and are very proud to be part of the aerospace community.
A special guest for the summit – the Opportunity rover
The Summit took place over two days. The first day had Focus Sessions and Academic Symposium Talks followed by the screening of the movie “Good night Oppy”, a movie sponsored by the US Embassy. A fantastic Q&A session followed with Vandi Verma, JPL Principal Engineer and the Deputy Section Manager for the Mobility & Robotics section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Vandi is someone who drives on Mars. She is also the Chief Engineer of the Robotic Operations for Mars 2020 (Perseverance) and drove Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter. Vandi grew up in India and got inspired to pursue a career in space at the early age of 6 to 7 years old. She is very inspirational and a fantastic public speaker. Lucky for us in New Zealand, she is on a tour here. So, if you have the chance to get your students to see her while she is here, it is… a fantastic opportunity. 🙂 Vandi is part of NASA’s 2024 Opportunity Rover STEM Roadshow, featuring ‘Oppy | Angitu’—the replica Mars rover created by Auckland University’s Centre for Automation and Robotic Engineering Science (CARES) with U.S. Embassy support.
Opportunity Rover STEM Roadshow
Students from Auckland University created a replica of the Mars Rover Opportunity right here in New Zealand, with support from the US Embassy. You can still see the rover at Te Papa until the 10th of October. Check out the Embassy’s website for further updates:
Summit Day 2024
The second day was the official Summit day. It started with a mihi whakatau and followed by a warm welcome from Mayor Phil Mauger and an opening address from Mark Rocket, the chair of Aerospace New Zealand, the organiser of the Summit.
Hon Judith Collins KC address
We then heard from Hon Judith Collins, our Minister for Space. It turns out she is the first Minister for Space in the world, and since we have not found any aliens yet, as MC David Downs commented, she is the first Minister for Space in the known Universe.
The Minister highlighted the government’s commitment to growing New Zealand’s aerospace sector, including the establishment of a new Minister for Space role. She emphasized that the aerospace industry extends beyond rockets, including satellites, drones, and advanced data-driven technologies. The government aims to create a world-class regulatory environment by 2025 to encourage innovation, including setting up ‘sandbox’ zones for testing aviation technologies.
Minister Collins also announced new initiatives, including releasing New Zealand’s Space and Advanced Aviation Strategy, which outlines the country’s ambitions for aerospace growth and global collaboration. She stressed the importance of international connections, with New Zealand engaging in joint projects with countries like Australia and promoting the sector on the global stage.
Additionally, she spoke about fostering talent in aerospace through initiatives like the Prime Minister’s Space Prizes and the New Zealand Space Scholarships, which provide opportunities for students and professionals. She also acknowledged funding support for innovative companies in the aerospace sector through grants like the Ārohia Trailblazer Grant, stating that the government is focused on supporting the aerospace sector’s regulatory and economic development to ensure its ongoing growth and success.
Read the speech here.
Find out more about the Ārohia Trailblazer Grant here.
Charity Weeden, NASA
Charity Weeden is the associate administrator for the NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) within the NASA administrator’s office. She was the next featured speaker and talked about NASA’s work
Championing Aerospace for good – Panel
The Panel was moderated by Sarah Keesans, University of Canterbury and included Sarah Ramsay from United Machinists in Dunedin, Julia Sothmann, Dawn Aerospace, Pauline Harris, Massey University and Vandi Verma. They discussed about lowering costs of access to space. Pauline talked about the Māori perspective on aerospace.
Sarah Ramsey also pointed out the career paths to space and their work to support students choosing a career like this, noting the fact that many jobs related to space are related to high precision machining. This is a key part of accessing space. Sarah Ramsey offered some excellent thoughts and practical examples of the different roles that there are in New Zealand especially in manufacturing that are related to aerospace.
Future Fuels and the Hydrogen Consortium Panel Discussion
There was a fantastic panel discussion on the future of fuels and the efforts that are undertaken in New Zealand to use hydrogen as a replacement for current conventional fuels. A highlight was the work of Christchurch Airport building the infrastructure for liquid hydrogen. Barry Prince from FABRUM talked about building hydrogen infrastructure. Bob Criner from Stralis Aircraft talked about building a hydrogen-powered airplane. Claire Waghorn from Christchurch International Airport and moderator Shaun Johnson were also on the panel.
Aerospace Technology and Data, Helping to Meet our Climate Goals
With World Space Week 2024‘s theme being Space and Climate Change, this was a timely panel featuring a cohort of leaders worldwide. Chaired by Mark Rocket, the panel included Eugene Tu, Center Director at NASA Ames, Michael Appleyard from LINZ, Sarah Mikaloff-Fletcher from NIWA and Sharina Nisha from One NZ. It was great to hear from our New Zealand leaders how we use space for climate change preparedness and see what others around the world do, particularly NASA Ames, which has an extensive programme of Earth observations.
In 2020, we had the opportunity to interview Sarah Mikaloff-Fletcher and Peter Crabtree (then running the New Zealand Space Agency) about MethaneSAT in an interview we produced for World Space Week. Here is the recording. MethaneSAT is a mission to sense atmospheric methane concentrations, a greenhouse gas. This interview highlights the efforts New Zealand has made using space technology to support the fight against climate change. We look forward to an update from Sarah regarding the work since 2020.
Conclusion
The New Zealand Aerospace Summit 2024 was a great opportunity to reconnect with our networks in the aerospace industry. It was also a good chance to get updated on what is happening and what innovative projects New Zealand companies are doing. This year’s summit was considerably bigger than the last two years, and it was great to have the ESS teachers attend, as they could network and learn what career pathways are available for their students.
