The women at the forefront of New Zealand's space industry & More News Here

Once regarded as a world belonging solely to astronauts and rocket scientists – and dominated by males – New Zealand’s space industry is booming, with women at the forefront. Later this month, Rocket Lab will launch to the moon for Nasa, supporting a programme aiming to land the first lady and first particular person of color, writes Sophie Trigger.

Staring up at the night time sky throughout a dinner break, Sarah Blyde began to consider the universe.

She was 26 and dealing as an engineer in the petroleum industry in Western Australia in 2019.

“Just looking up at the night sky at all the planets and the stars [wondering] what’s going on out there in the universe, is pretty cool.

“I had an epiphany sooner or later that whereas they want engineers in the petroleum industry, in addition they want them in the space industry.

First, she appeared up the native observatory and began volunteering there.

“I had my eye on what was happening overseas – all these awesome impressive rocket launches going to space – but then I heard about Rocket Lab back home doing impressive things.

“It opened up my eyes to see truly we are able to do that, Kiwis can work in the space sector. And I began principally charting a bit of a path to get there.”

She’s now a project engineer for Rocket Lab – managing changes on the Electron launch vehicle from its initial concept until it is flying to space.

Electron is a three-stage orbital rocket that has launched 146 satellites – it’s the second most frequently launched US rocket.

Based at the Auckland Production Complex in Mt Wellington, Blyde’s job is to coordinate changes to the design of Electron.

“It’s an attention-grabbing position as a result of there’s a lot selection in the initiatives we’re concerned with,” she said.

“In the morning, we may very well be speaking with restoration engineers about the parachute system, then in the afternoon, we may very well be discussing modifications to the payload fairing for an upcoming mission with the manufacturing crew.”

Rocket Lab was founded in New Zealand by Peter Beck in 2006. As well as launching lightweight electron orbital rockets, the company designs satellites and manufactures spacecraft software – with Rocket Lab technology on more than 1700 space missions across the world.

The New Zealand launch site in Mahia in Hawke’s Bay, is the world’s first and only private active orbital launch site.

From here Electron has launched 26 times, and this month Rocket Lab will launch to the moon for Nasa.

The mission is a pathfinding one, supporting Nasa’s Artemis programme, which aims to land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon.

Growing up in New Zealand, working in the space industry wasn’t something Blyde considered as a career option.

“Nowadays it’s very totally different, the space sector has grown so much in the previous few years, significantly the business space sector.

“Here in New Zealand as well, there’s a world of opportunities out there for people in school and university.

“I believe space can encourage so many individuals in so many alternative methods – it isn’t nearly launching rockets.”

Space industry tipped to triple in 20 years

New Zealand’s space industry is fast-growing.

A report from Deloitte after the 2018/19 year valued New Zealand’s space industry at a revenue of $1.75 billion. The industry’s economic contribution to the country was $1.69 billion over the same period.

Globally, the space industry is expected to triple by 2030.

Once thought to be a world belonging only to astronauts and rocket scientists – and dominated by men – New Zealand’s space industry now directly employs more than 5000 people, and supports a further 12,000 full-time roles, such as those involved in the supply chain.

But in spite of the growing opportunities, it’s thought women occupy only about 10 to 20 per cent of positions in the space sector.

Blyde is passionate about getting more women into the industry.

She is a founding member of the newly formed Women in Space Aotearoa, which aims to support women and gender minorities already working in the sector and encourage others to join.

Beginning in October, Wisa attracted interest from 200 members across New Zealand.

Now incorporated with its first AGM last month, the group has 70 paying members, who can access newsletters, panel expertise and mentorship to help them get into or navigate the industry.

While open to everyone, it is focused on promoting opportunities for women and gender minorities.

Blyde says there’s been a lot of interest from high school students, so they’re looking at creating a separate membership just for them.

Rocket Lab spokeswoman Morgan Bailey says women are under-represented globally in the space industry, and it’s something they want to change.

“We’re working to alter that with a purpose to extend our share of women in our crew by a minimal of 3 per cent in 2022.

“We’ve also set a target of 50 per cent women in our annual internship intake, and came close last year with 44 per cent women interns.”

Rocket Lab gives a number of training pathways together with a Space Ambassadors programme, which connects volunteers with faculties to offer younger folks an perception into the industry.

More than 350 faculties have formally registered with the programme, probably reaching greater than 225,000 younger folks all through New Zealand.

An annual scholarship additionally gives $20,000 throughout 4 years to at least one pupil, pairing the recipient with a Rocket Lab mentor.

Rocket Lab additionally created New Zealand’s first aerospace apprenticeship, using 11 apprentices in paid full-time work.

New Zealand’s thriving industry

As a 7-year-old obsessive about Star Trek, Julia Rothman, 45, was captivated by space early.

“I think a lot of people are very attracted to space – there’s a certain glamour or romance about it – and there was an earlier area of my life where I thought, ‘that’s what I want to do’. I just couldn’t work out how to do it.”

She says her optimism is supported by having her begin in the US industry, the place space is taken into account a real profession path.

She moved there in 2000, working for the United States Air Force the place she helped design and launch space techniques for the US Government.

As a chief techniques engineer, she sourced funding for climate mannequin growth and a satellite tv for pc receiver web site – doubling the advance warning time for class 5 hurricanes after Hurricane Katrina. She was additionally the first to obtain Space and Missile Systems Centre and Missile Defence Agency Civilian of the Year awards for negotiating between US and Australian space pursuits.

“As I look back now, I think I was incredibly fortunate to have the endorsement and the career development that the US Airforce gave me.

“In some ways I may need been discouraged in my 20s if I wasn’t working inside that framework.”

Rothman returned to New Zealand in 2018 and now is in her dream job.

Rothman oversees the site in Mahia, running the team and managing domestic launches for customers looking to launch a satellite into low-earth orbit.

“We convey out the rocket when it arrives, roll it out to the launch pad, guarantee all procedures are executed appropriately.”

Rothman says there are now so many ways to get into the space sector.

The most classical, direct path overseas is through an aeronautical engineering major, which doesn’t exist in New Zealand.

But this isn’t necessarily an issue, as the space industry’s technical personnel – who make up 60 per cent of the industry – can come from backgrounds such as engineering or computer science.

A technical diploma can also be enough to get a start.

On top of that, Rothman says, there are ample opportunities for the 40 per cent that come from non-technical backgrounds.

“The non-technical actually run the gamut – you will get folks with legislation levels, you will get folks with commerce, or different enterprise or contractual backgrounds coming into the industry as a result of they’re simply enthusiastic about space.”

What she’d like is for high-schoolers and university students to be aware of these opportunities – and not feel that they had to leave New Zealand to find space, as she did.

She also suggests more modules introduced at the primary and intermediate school levels, to ensure the space industry seems more than the pipe-dream of aspiring astronauts.

“I’d actually like to advertise a system that enables excessive schoolers and college college students to remember of the varied alternatives and know that they do not need to go abroad to search out them,” she said.

“I would like folks to know that there is a thriving industry in New Zealand that is rising and turning into extra various, each in alternatives and in folks.”

People from all backgrounds can find themselves in the space industry, she says.

“A buddy of mine grew up eager to be a mannequin, and now introduces each launch for the US Space drive on video – so she’s at each launch.

Space information is throughout is

Rothman says New Zealanders in all probability do not even understand how a lot their lives intertwined with the ballooning space industry.

“It’s very tangible, it’s very domestic.

“They contact space information all the time – dozens, a whole bunch of instances a day at this level. GPS now could be the basis of the international monetary market.

“Anytime we access data now there is an increasing component of it that is in some ways space-related, and that component will likely exponentially increase in the decades to come.”

Every interplay that requires a timestamp – equivalent to your ATM receipt – is underpinned by GPS and space information.

“Ongoing timing is incredibly important to the financial industry, because it has to work out to how many hundredths of a second, what a dollar is worth, and it has to do it all the time.

“Anytime there is a timer now for when one thing globally must happen, GPS is concerned. And it is simply going to maintain growing.

“There’s dozens of paths and stopping points before it gets packaged in that way but for GPS, you are getting a triangulation of a location that’s feeding directly to you.”

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