New Zealand is launching, building, researching, regulating, teaching, observing, and imagining what comes next in space. So we invited speakers from across New Zealand’s space community for a Carterton Space Week evening exploring Aotearoa’s growing role in the global space sector. Fresh From Space turned out to be exactly the kind of evening we hoped Carterton Space Week could create.
For the third year in a row, the New Zealand Space Agency travelled to Carterton for Carterton Space Week. For the third year in a row, we had Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington with us. And for the first time ever, New Zealand’s first Kiwi in Space, Mark Rocket, joined the audience. That still feels extraordinary to write.
This year, Grace Andrews and TJ Ariu from the New Zealand Space Agency were joined by Mark Rocket, who spoke about his own journey to space, and Dr Yvette Perrott from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, with Sam Leske moderating the conversation.
The discussion went everywhere in the best possible way: what it actually feels like to travel to space, how New Zealand’s space sector has grown over the past decade, the increasing importance of satellite data, Earth observation, advanced aviation, farming and environmental applications, space sustainability, robotic exploration, Mars, and the many different careers now opening up around the sector.
One of the strongest themes of the evening was that space is no longer just about rockets but increasingly about what we do with the information and technology that come from space here on Earth, from agriculture and environmental monitoring to telecommunications, emergency management and scientific research.
And the questions from the audience were fantastic. We talked about the future of human exploration, whether robots might sometimes be the better explorers, what young people should study if they want to work in the space sector, and even when Wairarapa might get its own rocket club. These are exactly the kinds of conversations we hoped Carterton Space Week would create: big ideas, real science, direct access to people working in the sector, and the chance to ask the questions that normally never make it into a formal presentation.
A huge thank you to Mark, Yvette, Grace, TJ and Sam, and to everyone who came along and made the evening such a thoughtful, lively part of Carterton Space Week 2026.
#CartertonSpaceWeek #WorldSpaceWeek #NZSpace #RocketRevolution #Wairarapa
