A satellite view of the Earth seen from space. Photo: 123RF
Climate change is an "existential threat to everyone on spaceship Earth" according to NASA's deputy administrator Colonel Pam Melroy.
She, and her boss NASA administrator Bill Nelson, are in New Zealand this week, meeting with space science and engineering students at the University of Auckland; the team at Rocket Lab who successfully launched Aotearoa's first lunar mission CAPSTONE which is now testing a new orbit around the moon for the Lunar Gateway.
On Wednesday morning, they were at Parliament where five students received New Zealand Space Scholarships to undertake a programme at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The recipients are: Michaela Dobson, Leah Albrow, Jack Naish, Celine Jane and Daniel Wrench.
Melroy said the key focus of the visit was to deepen the relationship between New Zealand and the United States, particularly in the area of civil space exploration.
Melroy said NASA was particularly excited about Rocket Lab's contribution after it launched NASA's Capstone spacecraft in July 2022, setting it on a path to the Moon.
"It is currently characterising the environment there which is going to be very important when we send humans down to the surface."
NASA is about to announce the crew of Artemis which will fly in December 2024, she said.
"And that will be a test mission to carry humans out beyond in an orbit around the Moon and to test out the vehicle with humans on board the first time."
The first landing on the Moon is currently scheduled for the end of 2025 with Artemis 3, she said.
The students who have been awarded the scholarships are among those in this photo, Also pictured are Colonel Pam Melroy, sixth right in back row and Bill Nelson, fifth right also in the back row. Photo: RNZ / Giles Dexter
"We'll send four crew members, two will go down to the surface, including the first woman and the next man to land on the Moon."
Asked whether there was a tension between NASA's work on climate change with the money and effort being spent on space exploration, Melroy said NASA was making a "major investment in understanding and mitigating the effects of climate change".
That included about $3 billion in studying the Earth's system and it was important to look at the Earth as part of a global system which could only be done from space, she said.
They were also working to decarbonise aviation with substantial investments in fuel efficiency and sustainable air fuels, as well as researching the impacts of aviation in space on climate, she said.
One of the reasons for furthering space exploration was to increase the science and understanding of the universe, she said.
That included better understanding the formation of the solar system and Mars was of particular interest, she said.
"If we can find life on Mars, but also if we can understand what a planet that used to have flowing water and an atmosphere but now is cold, dry and barren, if we can understand that, how that happened, we might be able to better protect the Earth."
NASA's work to create scientific and technical capabilities spills over into other capabilities, she said.
"One of my favourite examples of that is that during the Apollo programme NASA basically had to invent software engineering as a discipline, and that of course has had a huge impact in many other areas."
Space research was also about inspiring the next generation of STEM or science, technology, engineering and mathematics students to continue the work, Melroy said.
But climate change was a global crisis which must be prioritised, and that was one reason they were in New Zealand which was a great partner particularly in studying the effects of climate, she said.
NASA was creating a global blueprint for how humans would explore and so science in the solar system and partnership and consultation were critical because it needed to be a global effort, she said.
"The history of Aotearoa is about explorers and it's in the DNA of the Māori and New Zealanders to be explorers."
Indigenous voices must be heard and they would meet with Ngāi Tahu later this week, she said.
"We think the indigenous voice, especially about how to balance resources that we need to use to stay alive, but also to protect and preserve as we go forward into the solar system, that's a voice that must be heard."