American space innovator LeoLabs has chosen to set up shop in Central Otago, establishing a phased-array radar to track small satellites and space debris – the first in the Southern Hemisphere. LeoLabs credits its decision to invest in New Zealand in part to the support it received through the Government’s Innovative Partnerships programme.

US space innovator LeoLabs is to set up shop in Central Otago, establishing a phased-array radar to track small satellites and space debris – the first in the Southern Hemisphere. LeoLabs credits its decision to invest in New Zealand in part to the support it received through the Government’s Innovative Partnerships programme.

Tiny pieces of space junk will be tracked from a new type of radar station that a United States company will build in Central Otago next year. The radar will be the third built by California company LeoLabs, joining facilities in Texas and Alaska, but its first capable of tracking objects in low-orbit that are as small as 2 centimeters in diameter.

LeoLabs, Inc., a US-based provider of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services, has announced a broad-based agreement to build its next LeoLabs Space Radar in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is teaming up with an American company to track small pieces of space junk in low-Earth orbit. The little pieces of debris, pose a risk to satellites and other spacecraft.

US space innovator LeoLabs is to set up shop in Central Otago, establishing a phased-array radar to track small satellites and space debris — the first in the Southern Hemisphere.

The RemoveDEBRIS satellite was launched on its test mission from the International Space Station. Next year, the British scientists behind RemoveDEBRIS will test a harpoon, spearing a piece of junk so it can be dragged into the Earth’s atmosphere to burn up harmlessly.

The small satellite revolution has transformed space into a business valued at more than $300bn, but it has also created a traffic management problem with millions of pieces of junk whizzing around the planet.

Commercial space situational-awareness startup LeoLabs is extending its orbital-debris radar tracking network to the Southern Hemisphere. The company is to locate the third radar in its network, and […]