NZ Defence Force hosts joint space meeting

Space activities will be on the agenda at a joint conference between New Zealand, the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. Photo / iStock

Space activities will be on the agenda at a joint conference between New Zealand, the US, the UK, Canada and Australia being hosted in Wellington over the next two days.

Delegates at the annual meeting of the Combined Space Operations Principals (CSpO) will discuss "involvement and activities in space", the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said in a media statement.

It comes after allied nations last year signed in Ottawa, Canada, the CSpO Initiative memorandum of understanding, which aimed to give what the US Department of defence described as an "understanding of the current and future space environment, an awareness of space capability to support global operations and military-to-military relationships to address challenges and ensure the peaceful use of space".

Focus areas for the combined space operations included space situational awareness, force support, launch and re-entry assessment and contingency operations.

Vice-Chief of the NZDF, Air Vice-Marshal Kevin Short, said taking part in the initiative would benefit the NZDF by "giving more effective and efficient access to information about space-based systems that support operations and tasks in our area of interest".

"NZDF is tasked to contribute to a safe, secure and resilient New Zealand, deploy into difficult environments for humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions, and to patrol large maritime areas. Satellites enable us to effectively complete these tasks."

New Zealand was also reliant on access to space-based systems in many aspects of everyday life including, communications, weather forecasting, navigation, and air traffic management.

The NZDF relied on those same capabilities to undertake its roles and tasks.

"It is in New Zealand's defence and security interests to participate in the CSpO initiative.

"CSpO allows us to coordinate and improve our space awareness capabilities."