Nasa scientist coming home for key research role
A scientist who can fly helicopters, do jiu jitsu and used to chase tornadoes is to lead a space science technology research team in Central Otago.
The Centre for Space Science Technology has appointed Delwyn Moller, an award-winning scientist who hails originally from the Waikato, as its director of research. Moller has been working for the United States space agency Nasa (National Aeronautical Space Agency).
The centre is a regional research institute based in Alexandra. The organisation was established in May 2017 and is one of the first regional research institutes to get off the ground in New Zealand.
Centre chief executive Steve Cotter said Moller, who designed and implemented technology for Nasa space missions, would move to Central Otago from Los Angeles with her husband and two children.
Moller’s contribution would be invaluable to the centre and to New Zealand as a whole, Cotter said.
‘‘We are excited to welcome Delwyn and her family back to New Zealand, and to CSST. Delwyn’s experience and approach will be vital in establishing an agile, yet long-term research strategy for CSST – one that will help translate Earth observation data into valuable learnings for New Zealand industry, government, businesses and researchers.’’
Throughout her career, Moller had developed innovative state-ofthe-art remote sensing systems for measuring critical aspects of the Earth’s surface to support science, research and applied sciences with applications ranging from mapping ocean currents, ice-surface topography, surface water hydrology, snow depth mapping and soil moisture retrieval.
She started her career working on system design, fielding and data analysis for oceanic remote sensing, which led her to a role at Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory focusing on system engineering for satellite and suborbital radars.
Since 2008, Moller has been working for Remote Sensing Solutions as a principal systems engineer focused on nextgeneration sensors and products for Earth observation.
Moller said her values and the way she liked to work aligned well with the new centre.
‘‘Primarily my professional work has been for Nasa, with a strong focus on academic collaboration and networking. As such, I share and embrace the core values of CSST as a research-focused, non-partisan organisation with the principle that data and information be as openly available as possible.’’
In recent years a large emphasis of her work had been collaborating with both science and enduser communities to expand the use and interpretation of remote sensing data.
This required understanding the underlying problems, infrastructure and culture of an enduser community and how to translate and share the information in a way that was meaningful and useful to that community.
That approach aligned well with how the new centre saw the future of Earth observation and the space industry in New Zealand.
The new centre was building an agile company that could handle the entire Earth observation data life-cycle, from system design, data capture, analysis and synthesis, data management, dissemination, through to training and support, Cotter said.
‘‘The organisation is committed to creating a culture and research strategy that will attract expat Kiwis with expertise in the areas of Earth observation and remote sensing back to our shores.’’