Connecting with Indigenous whanau at NASA to build a Māori Aerospace sector

15 April, 2024

Principal Investigator Associate Professor Pauline Harris

A team led by Principal Investigator Associate Professor Pauline Harris and including our Strategic Manager Māori, Kirsty Doyle, will join twelve other New Zealand research teams to conduct a joint six-month feasibility study looking at Earth observation research with NASA.

Kirsty Doyle, Strategic Manager Māori

Associate Professor Harris' team has received this funding through MBIE's New Zealand United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Research Partnerships Catalyst Fund.

Her team will be collaborating with NASA's Indigenous Peoples Initiative (IPI), Massey University and their partners Society of Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART) and the Māori Working Group on Aerospace (MWGA) on the project.

Associate Professor Harris' project "Ko tātai arorangi he kaiarataki i te rā: Integrating space-based observations into traditional Māori calendar systems, the maramataka" was developed as we recognised the critical need for Māori-led initiatives to access innovative data for monitoring environmental and ecological impacts. This initiative determines Māori environmental monitoring priorities, leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning on satellite data.

You can read more here: Massey researchers secure funding to pioneer space-based earth observation studies