Course organiser:Chris Botur
Presenter:Various
4 Mar:
Eric Dahlstrom, co-founder and CTO, Spacebase, on 'New Zealand Space Activities.'Eric will talk about his background at NASA, International Space University, SpaceBase, New Zealand’s role in the new space industry, and why there are new opportunities for the aerospace industry in New Zealand.
11 Mar:
Mark Rocket, president and founder of Kea Aerospace on 'The New Space Age.'Mark will talk about his aerospace journey with Virgin Galactic, Rocket Lab, Aerospace Christchurch and
Kea Aerospace. He will conclude with an outline of the Kea Atmos project, building a solar-
powered, unmanned aircraft that will fly at 20 kilometres in the stratosphere.
18 Mar:
Michael Read, founder, Skybase, on 'The next 30 years in Aerospace: how Skybase will Unlock Aviation’s Full Potential.'Michael will talk about the trends in aerospace technology over the last 120 years which allow us to forecast where things will be in the next 30 years and even beyond. Having started Skybase in 2017, after being involved with another aviation startup and nearly 14 years as an Australian Air Force Pilot, Michael Read is confident in the direction the company is taking to align with the future of Aerospace. An easier path would be to make another “me too” business, but having a purpose-aligned business makes overcoming significant obstacles just the way we do things.
25 Mar:
Joshua Rea, Business Development, Dawn Aerospace, on 'Sustainable Space Transportation for the Unforeseeable Future.'Joshua will talk about the work Dawn Aerospace is doing to build sustainable, scalable and accessible space transportation technologies. In this course he will cover both the growing satellite and launch markets, the problems faced by both, and the practical steps Dawn are taking to address these issues with their new satellite engine and reusable spaceplane solutions.
1 Apr:
Dr. Sarah Kessans, lecturer, School of Product Design, UC, on 'Per Aspera ad Astra: Reaching for the Stars via Science.'Sarah will talk about her work on using nano-satellites for protein crystallisation in micro-gravity which is due to be launched from a SpaceX rocket in April. Also the perspectives gained during her journey through NASA's 2017 Astronaut Candidate Selection process.