KEEPING PACE IN SPACE
This was originally published by Kevin Jenkins in Public Sector Volume 45 in December 2022.
New Zealand has quickly become a major player in the space industry. Kevin Jenkins explores how this has come about and what it means for policy and regulation.
Over the last five years, the space industry in New Zealand has
seemingly come from nowhere to be a fast-growing sector rich
in innovation, quality jobs, and export potential. New Zealand’s
world-class regulation has been key in its success. Exponential
growth in the industry is a global phenomenon — for example, the
Indian Space Organisation has just launched thirty-six satellites
for Indian company OneWeb to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink
– so we need to stay competitive.
Two areas are critical to this: keeping space policy and regulation
at a world-class level and ensuring the regulation of traditional
aviation keeps pace.
The latter is important, not just because you have to pass through
heavily regulated airspace to get to outer space, but because
the line is blurring between spacetech, high-altitude aviation,
and new platforms and propulsion systems. High-altitude
autonomous solar-powered drones compete with satellites
monitoring the environment, for example. This interface has led
to the term “aerospace” instead of “space”.
Keeping policies and regulations world leading
The mid-2010s was an inflection point for the space industry in
New Zealand. Rocket Lab catalysed the establishment of the New
Zealand Space Agency within MBIE in 2016, followed by the Outer
Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017. By 2018, Rocket Lab
had captured the media and public’s imagination.
Submissions closed in October on the New Zealand Space Policy
Review being conducted by MBIE. (There is also a separate
consultation on an Aerospace Strategy, which includes space
and advanced aviation.) “Space” is defined as “high-altitude”,
meaning it includes the zone within the atmosphere but beyond
normal aviation. The review seeks to:
1. Create a National Space Policy outlining New Zealand’s
values and objectives on space
2. Articulate New Zealand’s broad interests across multiple
activities and engagements, including those at the United
Nations and with international space and security partners
3. Develop future space strategies, policies, and regulatory
changes to keep pace with technological advances
4. Further engage on space policy with the public, including
any key areas of interest identified through the consultation
5. Consider any legislative changes.
A consultation document published in September 2022 included
responses to these issues, many involving ideas around
kaitiakitanga such as:
1. Innovation: advancing knowledge and increasing
productivity and wellbeing
2. Responsibility: complying with international and
domestic laws and promoting a peaceful and secure space
environment
3. Stewardship: using spacetech to fight climate change and
better manage our natural resources and act sustainably in
space
4. Partnership: better together — engaging with Māori, the
public, institutions, and global partners.
OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS, THE SPACE INDUSTRY IN NEW ZEALAND HAS SEEMINGLY COME FROM NOWHERE TO BE A FAST-GROWING SECTOR.
It lists government’s interests in space as economic (leveraging
our geographic location and niche expertise), national security
(promoting our interests, for example, preventing illegal fishing
or regulating launching satellite constellations), international
(promoting the responsible use of space), safety and security
through regulation (leveraging our best-practice regulatory
regime), and environmental (data from space helping guide
stewardship of natural resources).
“New Zealand is an ideal place for aerospace technology
development and testing. With a rich aerospace ecosystem, a
highly regarded regulator, and soon-to-be created dedicated
testing areas, we can move much faster here than most other
places on Earth.” Michael Read, Founder, Skybase
Mark Rocket, one of the founders of Rocket Lab, and now leading
Kea Aerospace, drove the formation of an aerospace industry
cluster in Christchurch called Aerospace Christchurch. This
started small with regular meet-ups with local industry leaders
and other stakeholders including mana whenua and rangatahi.
It’s been successful at sparking collaboration and promoting the
industry. Companies like Kea Aerospace and Dawn Aerospace
are high profile examples of how the region is a hotbed of space
innovation. Another is Project Tāwhaki, a partnership between
Wairewa Runanga, Te Taumutu Runanga, and the government to
convert 1,000 hectares on Kaitorete Spit near Christchurch into
research facilities and a launch pad.
Aerospace Auckland was incorporated in 2022 with the purpose
of fostering a thriving aerospace sector. It includes aerospace
companies (including Rocket Lab, Astrix Astronautics, Argo
Navis, Dotterel Technologies, and Zenith Astronautics), academia
(including Te Punaha Atea, the Space Institute at the University
of Auckland), Tataki Auckland Unlimited, BNZ, and some
professional service firms.
One of the roles of both organisations is to be a voice for the
industry and a driving force in regional aerospace cluster
development. Aerospace Auckland’s submission on the Space Policy Review called for a greater focus on the respective
strengths of different regions and collaboration with economic
development agencies and councils.
EIGHT OUT OF TEN RESPONDENTS SAID IT IS DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT WITHIN NEW ZEALAND.
The submission also raised the need for more education
and training. It drew on the Aerospace Skill Gap Survey
2021 (commissioned by Tataki Auckland Unlimited and
ChristchurchNZ), which found significant shortages of skilled
space professionals in New Zealand. Eight out of ten respondents
said it is difficult to recruit within New Zealand, mostly because
“applicants don’t have the right skills and/or expertise”. Sixty-five
percent of respondents said their plan B was to either recruit
overseas or, worrisomely, “move certain functions/parts of
their business overseas” or “recruit overseas and let their staff
work from that location”. This is against the backdrop of severe
shortages of qualified staff for traditional aviation as well.
Aerospace Auckland argued that the space strategy goals will not
be achieved if initiatives to broaden STEM and other education
programmes are not accelerated. This includes the critical need
to broaden the talent pool for potential aerospace scientists and
engineers by encouraging involvement by more Māori, women,
Pacific peoples, and other under-represented groups.
World-leading aviation policies and regulations
Globally, aviation regulators face a tsunami of new technologies
they need to respond to if their countries are not to be left behind
in the innovation race. Some argue that billions of dollars of value
for Aotearoa from continued growth in our wider aerospace sector
relies on regulators ensuring our aviation regulatory regime is as
fit for purpose as it is for our space industry.
Current airliners look like airliners from the 1950s, but new
technologies (including better batteries, better solar technology,
and artificial intelligence) have led to an estimated 600 new
designs currently being explored.
Technologies are also rapidly advancing in traffic management,
weather forecasting, and cyber security, as well as the integration
of propulsion, control, and electrical supply systems (which
were previously separate and underpinned by separate technical
requirements).
This means the way that aircraft are certified and the training of
the certifiers may no longer be fit for purpose.
Different jurisdictions are taking different approaches to
developing standards for the new designs. The European Union
is endeavouring to get ahead of designs by trying to define and
publish certification requirements (albeit very high-level and
outcome-based) for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL)
aircraft before certification and operation. The United States is
taking a different tack by responding to each iteration of a design
as they are submitted until a threshold of maturity is reached, and
only then developing standards.
This means the European Union is developing generic eVTOL
standards, but the United States isn’t. Harmonising standards
isn’t getting easier, especially with a growing emphasis on
outcome and performance-based requirements.
In practice, like in other regulatory regimes, aviation regulators
will be asked questions like “Can you just tell me what to do?”
However, regulators will first need to understand what technology
is being developed, how it’s to be used, how its safety can be
assured, and how it will integrate within a complex aviation
and airspace system, before moving to define the certification
requirements. The next question — especially from a New Zealand
perspective — is “Can they do that fast enough to keep New
Zealand competitive?”
AVIATION REGULATORS FACE A TSUNAMI OF NEW
TECHNOLOGIES.
The Civil Aviation Authority’s operational response to this
fast-moving environment is a specific emerging technology
programme that focuses on the following:
1. Guidance: optimising systems, processes, and guidelines so
the sector understands the rules
2. System-based: systems thinking to nurture the right linkages
across the industry and ensure good decisions
3. Collaboration: working with stakeholders to develop
intelligence-led, risk-based regulation of emerging
technologies
4. Engagement: sharing information about new technologies
domestically and internationally
5. Best practice: following international best practice and
setting best practice when appropriate
6. Change and influence: improving processes to improve
effectiveness of new technology regulation.
Watch this aerospace
The aerospace industry in Aotearoa shows we can compete
globally in this most ambitious of industries. Public policy and
regulation have been key to this success and keeping both as best
practice will be a determinant of future success.
Kevin Jenkins is a founder of MartinJenkins (www.martinjenkins.
co.nz) and a member of the inaugural board of Aerospace
Auckland, and he writes about issues at the intersection of
business, innovation, and regulation. Many of his articles can be
found in the NZHerald.