Celebrating New Zealand Women in Space - Online Event
The Auckland Aerospace community, together with the New Zealand Space Agency, Women in Space Aotearoa New Zealand and Auckland Unlimited, are pleased to present a free online event themed ‘Celebrating New Zealand Women in Space’, to be held 5.30pm-7pm Thursday 9 December (NZDT).
This event will bring together a panel of leading space professionals to discuss their vision of New Zealand’s future in space and how women will help create that future, as well as to provide an opportunity to learn more about the careers and motivations of women currently making significant contributions to New Zealand’s space sector through “fireside chats” – from planetary scientists to rocket engineers!
Event Programme
5.30pm Panel Session: The future of space in New Zealand and women’s role in that future.
Dr Sarah Kessans (Lecturer, University of Canterbury)
Lisa Nelson (Member of the Board of Directors, Astra)
Janelle Keeble (Principal Manufacturing Engineer, Rocket Lab)
Dr Avinash Rao (CEO, Argo Navis)
Fia Jones (CEO, Astrix)
6.10pm Fireside Chat #1 and #2 - choose your preferred session
Fireside Chat #1 - Starting a career in the space industry :
Lara Collier (Junior Software Engineer, Rocket Lab) and Shenay Fraser (Junior Composite Technician, Rocket Lab)Fireside Chat #2 - Growing food in space, space sustainability and tales from the astronaut selection process:
Dr Sarah Kessans (Lecturer, University of Canterbury) and Dr Priyanka Dhopade (Lecturer, University of Auckland)
6:30pm Fireside Chat #3 and #4 - choose your preferred session
Fireside Chat #3: Choosing landing sites on Mars and understanding how space flight affects the human body
Dr Kathy Campbell (Geologist and Astrobiologist, University of Auckland) and Dr Lisa Brown (General Surgeon and Aerospace Medicine Researcher)Fireside Chat #4: Working on rocket engines and founding a space tech start-up.
Jenny Blackburne (Mechanical Engineer, Dawn Aerospace) and Fia Jones (CEO, Astrix).
Facilitated by Kate Breach (Aerospace Technical Specialist, New Zealand Space Agency).
Panel Session: Speaker Profiles
Dr Sarah Kessans
Dr Sarah Kessans is a lecturer in the School of Product Design at the University of Canterbury. The majority of her teaching and research is focused on using plants, fungi, and bacteria to produce chemical products ranging from pharmaceuticals to agrichemicals. Her research is split up between two main topics: fungal synthetic biology and technology development for research in microgravity. Although these two topics may seem completely separate, she is working towards developing strategies for food and pharmaceutical production for future space exploration, and by combining both of her research areas, will be able to develop organisms and facilities that can provide this production in space.
Lisa Nelson
Lisa Nelson is a member of the Board of Directors of US commercial space launch company Astra, a strategic advisor to New Zealand’s largest VC fund, Movac, and an Edmund Hilary Fellow. An accomplished finance and business development executive, Lisa has a unique breadth and depth of experiences as both a strategic and operational leader, with valuable perspectives on matters critical to all companies including digital transformation, business growth strategy, global operations and risk management. Lisa spent almost 15 years at Microsoft where she co-founded M12, Microsoft’s first venture fund and held the position of Managing Director. Lisa retired from Microsoft in 2019 and currently serves as an advisor and director to several early-stage startups, VC funds and other types of organizations dedicated to accelerating global innovation and technology. Lisa is currently based out of Seattle, Washington, USA.
Janelle Keeble
As a Principal Manufacturing Engineer at Rocket Lab, Janelle leads a team of engineers providing day-to-day support to the production floor. She is continually looking for ways to improve quality & efficiency and reduce unnecessary costs, whether through introducing design changes, developing innovative new manufacturing processes & equipment, or implementing systematic improvements.
Janelle holds a Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering degree and has a background in manufacturing engineering and production automation.
Dr Avinash Rao
Dr. Avinash Rao is CEO of Argo Navis Aerospace, and Principal at IDS Consulting. Avinash spent six years at Rocket Lab between 2013 and 2019 as lead GNC engineer and Director of Mission Delivery, before co-founding Argo Navis Aerospace to develop new chemical propulsion technology for launch vehicles and spacecraft. He also consults to the space and deep-tech industries and is technical lead for the Robinson Research Institute's AF-MPD electric propulsion research programme.
Fia Jones
Fia Jones is the CEO and co-founder of Astrix Astronautics. Founded in 2021, Astrix was spun out of the “Auckland Program for Space Systems” competition to develop an innovative new inflatable high performance solar power generation technology for in-space applications, and is backed by a number of venture capitalist firms and Rocket Lab. Fia is responsible for the overall operations and resources of the company. As a physicist, Fia bridges the gap between aerospace engineers, customers and the team at Astrix.
Fireside Chats: Speaker Profiles
Dr Priyanka Dhopade
Dr Priyanka Dhopade is a lecturer in thermofluids at the University of Auckland. Her research expertise is in aerospace thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. In 2017, she was one of the top 72 candidates during the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut recruitment campaign. Priyanka's current research focuses on sustainable engineering across space, environmental engineering and te ao Māori.
Lara Collier
Lara Collier is a junior software engineer at Rocket Lab. She is a 2021 Space Ambassador for the company, visiting schools to encourage interest into STEM careers. She has degrees in engineering and psychology, and is a key establishing member of New Zealand’s first formal Women in Space Aotearoa network. Her passions lie in aerospace and doing what she can to help pave the path for inspired young women to make their impact in the industry!
Jenny Blackburne
Jenny Blackburne is a mechanical engineer on the propulsion team at Dawn Aerospace. She is currently working on programming the rocket engine and preparing for the next test campaign of the engine. This involves assembling parts on the test bench, rewiring data acquisition and control systems to add new features, 3D printing the occasional part and integrating new parts onto the test bench.
Dr Kathy Campbell
Professor Kathy Campbell is a geologist, paleoecologist and astrobiologist who investigates extreme environments as analogues for early life on Earth and possible past life on Mars. She studied at the University of California at Santa Cruz (BSc Earth Sciences, with honors in the major), University of Washington (MSc, Geological Sciences), and University of Southern California (PhD, Geological Sciences). She undertook a U.S. National Research Council/NASA post-doctoral research associateship at NASA Ames Research Center before joining the University of Auckland in 1997.
Dr Lisa Brown
Dr Lisa Brown is a General Surgeon based in Auckland and has also completed training and research in Aerospace Medicine. In addition to working as a Surgeon, she spends her time performing Aerospace Medicine research - how the human body reacts in the microgravity environment and how to look after people on long duration missions. Lisa also sits on multiple international Space Medicine committees.
Shenay Fraser
Shenay Fraser is a composite apprentice at Rocket Lab. She works with carbon fiber laminating parts and assembling the rocket structure. She is also Space Ambassador who helps educate people on Rocket Lab, along with aiming to educate and inspire young women to get into the trades.
