Space radar for Central Otago
Tiny pieces of space junk will be tracked from a new type of radar station that a United States company will build in Central Otago next year.
The radar will be the third built by California company LeoLabs, joining facilities in Texas and Alaska, but its first capable of tracking objects in loworbit that are as small as 2 centimetres in circumference.
LeoLabs chief executive Dan Ceperley would not disclose the exact location of the Central Otago radar facility as it is still awaiting council resource consent.
The radar would ‘‘mostly look after itself’’, he said.
‘‘We will have a fence around it but mostly to protect the facility and stop people wandering through.’’
But Ceperley said LeoLabs also planned to open an office in New Zealand within two years which would work with local software developers to create applications using its data.
There were 250,000 fragments in low-orbit that weren’t currently tracked but which posed a danger to other satellites and to manned space-flights, he said.
The radar would help predict and prevent collisions, and would also check on the condition of newly-launched satellites.
Space debris could circle the Earth for hundreds of years and was tough to get rid of. ‘‘We hope we are paving the way for a robust clean-up industry.’’
Efforts to sweep up space junk could take off in the next few years ‘‘but needed the data on where it is and what risks it poses’’, Ceperley said.
The company wants to build a global of six tracking stations and raised US$13 million (NZ$20m) in July to expand its network.
LeoLabs had received a ‘‘modest investment’’ from the Crown-owned Venture Investment Fund, he said.
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment had provided non-financial support through its Innovation Partnership scheme.
‘‘LeoLabs’ presence in New Zealand will be hugely beneficial to New Zealand’s emerging space industry,’’ she said.
‘‘It is part of a wider plan within the Innovative Partnerships programme to build a thriving innovation ecosystem attracting research and development particularly in new space, advanced aviation technologies and ‘future foods’.’’
Ceperley said LeoLabs picked New Zealand partly because of the development of its space industry, for which launch company Rocket Lab was a ‘‘very clear example’’.
It was also really easy to do business in New Zealand.