Aerospace New Zealand visits Auckland
University of Auckland’s Mission Operations & Control Centre
Aerospace New Zealand recently hosted their Meet Up #35 in Auckland, and had the privilege of visiting some of the cutting-edge aerospace businesses based in the north island, including the University of Auckland’s Space Institute, Zenith Technica, Rakon, Print Gig and OutThere Astronautics.
Inevitably when one thinks of the aerospace industry in Auckland, Rocket Lab comes to mind. But what most people don’t know is that there is a massive array of other aerospace companies and educational institutions working hard to inspire, educate and create the next generation of aerospace solutions. Aerospace New Zealand recently visited a number of these aerospace organisations, including the University of Auckland’s Space Institute, who have their very own Mission Control Center, along with an array of laboratories including the National Satellite Test Facility. The Space Institute offers a variety of Masters, Diplomas and Certificates for anyone who wishes to become more educated and qualified to work in our nation’s growing space industry. In addition to offering courses for students, the institute also carries out research on various topic including Plasma Micro-propulsion and Magnetic Thrust Vectoring. The University of Auckland’s Space Institute is also heavily involved with satellite testing and validation activities in New Zealand, hosting the only National Satellite Test Facility. This facility plays a critical role in advancing our satellite, and on-orbit solutions capabilities.
Pictured below are members of the Aerospace New Zealand team with the University of Auckland’s Space Institute Team in their Mission Control Center, and a sneak peek into the National Satellite Test Facility.
Zenith Tecnica was another outstanding business for Aerospace New Zealand to visit, being a leader in Electron Beam Melting Additive Manufacturing and giving us a rare glance behind the scenes of advanced manufacturing in New Zealand. In 2023, Zenith Tecnica manufactured and delivered critical titanium node components on a NASA mission (Psyche). Peter Sefont, the Technical Director at Zenith Tecnica expressed his pride in the team previously, noting that ‘The team at Zenith Tecnica is ecstatic to see the successful launch of Psyche … We are proud to have played a small role in making this mission happen and wish the Psyche team all the best with the next phases of the mission.’
Electron Beam Melting is a manufacturing process where components are created with an electron beam. This electron beam has a stream of electrons that are guided using magnetic fields to match specific and precise dimensions, depositing layers of powdered metal to make up the whole part. This type of preciseness and accuracy is one of the reasons that manufacturing parts in this manner make them highly suitable for Aerospace applications. Most recently, Zenith Tecnica celebrated 10 years of this complex type of additive manufacturing. A number of these Electron Beam Melting Additively Manufactured pieces along with a look into the process can be seen in the gallery below.
“We are proud to have played a small role in making this mission happen and wish the Psyche team all the best with the next phases of the mission”
Aerospace New Zealand visited Rakon next. Rakon is a well known producer of quality electronic components, including primarily quartz crystals and crystal oscillators. Rakon is head-quartered in Auckland and has customers across the globe, along with subsidiaries in the UK and France. A lesser known area of business that Rakon is involved with is the Aerospace industry, where components that can stand up to extreme environments are required. For this purpose Rakon provides frequency control solutions that are proven to be able to sustain extreme temperatures, space radiation, vibrations and large G-forces. Rakon has been providing Aerospace solutions for over 40 years and have supported some of the largest missions in recent years including the Chandrayaan Programme from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Other missions that Rakon has provided solutions for have included the European Space Agencies Rosetta Mission, the mission that was the first satellite to rendezvous with a comet, and deploy a lander to a comet’s surface. Another notable mission includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Galileo spacecraft that was the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet.
Next on our list are Start Me Up participant’s. PrintGig and OutThere Astronautics. PrintGig is a 3D printing manufacturer that has capabilities that include Carbon Fiber and notably Polyether ether ketone printing, which is a reputable material used in various Aerospace applications. Polyether ether ketone printed parts are particularly lightweight and long lasting, and are one of the few materials that can withstand highly challenging extreme environments, similar to those encountered in space.
OutThere Astronautics is currently working on their plug-and-play module named Messenger, which is used to provide a scalable optical mesh network for satellites in space, with attitude independent operations. With the decreased reliance on radio stations, any number of satellites in space can communicate regardless of ground coverage.
An image of the PrintGig team with Aerospace New Zealand can be seen below.
Overall a highly successful Meet Up and visit to various impressive aerospace businesses across Auckland.
