The first practical course in space exploration will be starting next month, right in our own backyard at the Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory.

Part of a new major in Astronomy and Space Science being offered at Auckland University of Technology, the course will give students access to New Zealand's only radio telescope and they will learn about projects it contributes to, including maintenance of GPS systems and mapping of the Milky Way.

The space course provides students with firsthand practical knowledge of a subject that has previously only been taught using theory. It will give them opportunities to learn about how to retrieve data from satellites or remote vehicles on other planets, as well as space flight, celestial mechanics and exploration of the solar system.

Warkworth’s 30-metre dish radio telescope can pick up radio waves that penetrate gas and space dust, providing a clearer picture, and that recently assisted NASA and SpaceX in their mission to get astronauts to the international space station, and will possibly play a part in getting them home safely again. If the astronauts fly over New Zealand before landing in the Northern Hemisphere as planned, the Warkworth observatory will be the final station to observe it. The station will be responsible for tracking the astronauts’ landing location so that they can be safely retrieved by NASA.