CLYDE TOMBAUGH SPENT much of his life peering at telescope data. He discovered Pluto in 1930, and he spent years poking around the outer solar system. But as the scientific community began to dream about launching a vehicle into the great beyond, he focused his gaze much closer to home.

A FEW YEARS ago, a company called Spaceflight had a wacky plan. The plan, in the words of CEO Curt Blake, was “Let’s buy a Falcon!” Not, like, the bird of prey. Like the big SpaceX rocket that, similar to its avian namesake, swoops back down to Earth once it’s done its job.

The government of New Zealand and startup LeoLabs have signed an agreement to track space junk in the Southern Hemisphere by installing phased array radar.

Central Otago is going to become home to one of the first radars in the Southern Hemisphere to track small satellites and space debris. LeoLabs is a US space innovator that will launch a phased-array radar to do all the tracking, thanks to the New Zealand Government’s Innovative Partnerships programme.

Commercial space situational awareness provider LeoLabs will build its third space radar in New Zealand, the first radar of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

US-based start-up LeoLabs has signed an agreement with the Government of New Zealand to install phased array radar to track space junk in the Southern Hemisphere. The third radar of LeoLabs’ network will be the first of its kind to be installed in Southern Hemisphere.

LeoLabs, a commercial provider of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services, has agreed to build its next space radar in New Zealand. This establishes New Zealand as the site for the first radar of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — LeoLabs plans to install its next phased array radar in New Zealand, marking the space mapping startup’s first move into the Southern Hemisphere.

Central Otago’s skies look set to host an international space tracking facility that will help “clean up space” while sourcing cutting-edge data for a range of space-based technologies.

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.