Wellington, Feb 14 NZPA
Top scientists from the European Space Agency in New Zealand will monitor tracking of the Johannes Kepler unmanned spacecraft from Awarua Station near Invercargill when it launches on Thursday.
The new spacecraft, known as an automated transfer vehicle (ATV), will carry essential supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), will launch from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in South America.
It will stay fixed to the space station to use its rockets to “reboost” the station in its orbit, and then will be filled with human wastes and other rubbish before being dumped in the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.
Awarua Station, between Invercargill and Bluff, will have space agency technicians on hand to monitor the rocket’s flight. The site was chosen because it is far enough south for radio tracking of the ATVs, and remote enough for there to be no radio interference to disrupt the signal.
With the retirement of the space shuttles, the ATV is the largest vehicle left supplying the ISS, which is expected to continue its programme at least until 2020.
Since the New Zealand ground station was built, Swedish and American space interests — including a company that photographs Earth for Google — have also sought its services, and between launches of supply rockets for the space station, Awarua’s broadband internet link has also been used for projects raging from measuring lightning up to 6000km away, to collecting radio noise data.
Also on Thursday, some of the ESA scientists are expected to speak at a Wellington seminar, What on Earth, which will canvass new opportunities for using such satellite imagery and data in forestry, fishing, conservation, land use change, mineral exploration, and even natural disaster assessment.
The seminar is also expected to touch on the proposed joint bid by New Zealand and Australia $3.57 billion Square Kilometre Array deep space radio telescope. The seminar has been sponsored by the European Space Agency, and speakers will include scientists from the agency, Landcare Research, the Swedish Space Corporation, German and Italian space agencies, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
NZPA WGT kca dw mgr
