NZS.com Blog : New Zealand Internet and Web Space Blog » southland http://www.nzs.com/blog Blog of New Zealand Sites Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:09:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 European Space Agency tracking station in Awarua, Southland, New Zealand http://www.nzs.com/blog/nzs-blog-post/european-space-agency-tracking-station-in-awarua-southland-new-zealand/ http://www.nzs.com/blog/nzs-blog-post/european-space-agency-tracking-station-in-awarua-southland-new-zealand/#comments Sun, 02 Sep 2007 22:10:54 +0000 Mark Rocket http://www.nzs.com/blog/nzs-blog-post/european-space-agency-tracking-station-in-awarua-southland-new-zealand/ On March 29th, 2007, The European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement for the installation of a transportable telemetry station at Awarua. Southland is located on the launch trajectory of ESA’s Spaceport launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. Located just south of Invercargill, the tracking station will be used to track the Ariane 5 launcher as it manoeuvres its payloads to the International Space Station.

After extensive preliminary analysis, the Awarua site was selected due to its excellent visibility of the Ariane 5′s trajectory. Civil works, road adaptation, concrete platform, power, telecommunications and fence construction started in January, 2007.

It’s superb to see Venture Southland take an active interest in pursuing space science projects. Robin McNeill from Venture Southland sums it up nicely in a Listener article quote:

“Most Kiwi kids feel that space science is something that happens overseas. But it’s happening here in Southland – that’s inspiring!”

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