New Zealand provides global climate monitoring security as NASA satellite dies

The world’s ability to forecast extreme weather events will be extended and enhanced with a $12m NZ Government grant to Te Whai Ao — Dodd-Walls Centre researchers in photonic and quantum technologies.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Endeavour funding announced today by Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti, comes just in time as NASA’s EOS-Aura satellite runs out of fuel in 2026. The grant means a quarter of a century of uninterrupted space-based climate monitoring will be continued, and cutting-edge space-ready photonic technologies will be advanced.

Team lead, Dodd-Walls Centre Principal Investigator, Professor Harald Schwefel, says the move will preserve a key environmental data series that forecasters and climate scientists are very concerned about losing.

“We estimate the public and private global costs of its loss could be greater than $1B per annum and tens of millions of dollars for New Zealand,” he says. “It is difficult to even imagine the true global costs of loss of this data. For New Zealand alone, the value of our forecast system is of the order of a billion dollars per annum and the accuracy of the forecasts from short-term weather to long-term climate is critical”, he says.

The NASA satellite detects the faint microwave/THz signal of climate gases from the earth’s atmosphere, including above Antarctica during polar winters. This is when other satellites can’t operate due to the lack of light. While in general, the Ozone Hole has been recovering, some of the largest recorded holes have formed in the last decade. Scientists are only just beginning to understand how poorly information about climate gases is being captured in climate models and how their interactions affect local weather

Despite the risk to global infrastructure and human life without the EOS-Aura satellite, there are no follow-up missions with this capability planned by other countries, due to the prohibitive costs.

Kiwi Ingenuity

Professor Schwefel says the research programme provides an amazing “tech-in-a box” alternative to the giant NASA satellite.

“Integrating NZ’s capabilities in quantum technology, photonics and atmospheric science with innovations in the NZ aerospace industry, our device will cost less, be more compact, more energy efficient, and detect the wide range of atmospheric gases that the previous satellite did,” Dr Schwefel says.

The team, led by experts in photonics and atmospheric science at the University of Otago, is building critical capability for space-based climate monitoring with next generation photonics. Together withindustry partners such as Paihau–Robinson Research Institute and Earth Science New Zealand as well as international counterparts from the United States, Finland, Australia and Spain, the group is using a technique called quantum-inspired non-linear frequency conversion.

A previous MBIE Smart Ideas grant enabled them to convert relevant microwave/THz radiation frequencies into the optical domain. This meant they could launch very compact, energy-efficient radiometers (radiation measurement devices) on low-cost CubeSats.

Now they will be able to develop the device to improve its sensitivity and to measure a wider range of gases. They will explore the use of Rydberg atoms - enormous, human-made atoms which are highly sensitive to external electric and magnetic fields. They plan to prove the device using high altitude balloons launched with the help of Kea Aerospace. Then they will develop a space-ready payload to fit into a CubeSat for ongoing measurement.

Economic Value

Professor Schwefel says as well as using the information on atmospheric gases to improve forecasts of extreme weather events, the grant will have far-reaching economic benefits.

“This will create opportunities for new commercial enterprises and new precision engineering outputs. It will also grow New Zealand’s precision instruments and aerospace industries. The photonic technology alone provides a platform for other high-value applications from quantum networks to breath analysis and spectroscopy,” he says.

Te Whai Ao – Dodd-Walls Director, Professor Frédérique Vanholsbeeck backs that view.

“A large proportion of our spin-out companies got their start with a Smart Ideas grant. Both the Smart Ideas and the MBIE Endeavour Funds have provided a pathway to commercial success in high-value areas which the private sector wouldn’t risk. This project is a real example of how years of dedicated research can culminate in significant business opportunities,” she says.

Background

The project team is led out of the University of Otago, with key individuals placed at the Earth Science New Zealand (formerly NIWA/MetService), Paihau-Robinson Research Institute, and the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury, and Waikato. Key international partnerships include NASA/JPL, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, ANCDF Canberra, UC3MMadrid, and Colorado School of Mines, USA. Key industry partners are Kea Aerospace, Whitika-LuxFidelity and Shamrock Industries. Community engagement will be led by Tūhura Otago Museum and Aerospace NZ.