// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Awarua say to the satellite? You're grounded.
Awarua Satellite Ground Station (formerly Awarua Tracking Station) is a ground station built initially to support the European Space Agency Ariane 5 ES ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) launch campaigns. It was established by Venture Southland in 2007. It is owned and operated by Invercargill-based Space Operations New Zealand Ltd (trading as SpaceOps NZ), which was spun off from Southland Regional Development Agency Ltd (the successor of Venture Southland) in 2021.
The site on Awarua Plains was chosen because of its relatively high latitude, low elevation mask and isolation from sources of radio interference. It has a fibre-optic broadband links to the Internet.[1]
The station was first used in 2008 to track Jules Verne,[2] and subsequently four more Automated Transfer Vehicles servicing the International Space Station.
The station now provides telecommunications to commercial and space agency spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) with its own antennas and hosted antennas.
The station is the New Zealand site for the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN).[3]
Work with Planet Labs
[edit]In 2014 the Awarua Satellite Ground Station was chosen by Planet Labs to download their first earth observation satellites, in their Flock-1 constellation. Planet Lab's antenna was the first commercial antenna hosted at the station.
References
[edit]- ↑ NZ space link seen as a showcase for satellite imaging Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine by New Zealand Press Association, retrieved from Yahoo News website on 15 February 2011
- ↑ One giant step into space for Southland on Stuff website, retrieved 11 April 2011
- ↑ Brew, Andy (1 August 2024). "New GPS satellite technology will lead to fewer flight cancellations". The Southland Times. Retrieved 17 September 2026.
External links
[edit]- Awarua Satellite Ground Station, Space Operations New Zealand