SpaceBase today opens the Space for Planet Earth Virtual Research Incubator to teams across Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific region.

CHRISTCHURCH, CANTERBURY, NEW ZEALAND, November 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SpaceBase today opens the Space for Planet Earth Virtual Research Incubator to teams across Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific region. Teams include:

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL: CORAL HEALTH
Space Kiwis - Auckland Grammar School, Auckland, NZ
Rowdy Rocketeers - Camberwell Grammar School, Camberwell, Australia
Cashmere Space Club - Cashmere High School, Christchurch, NZ
Christ’s College - Christ’s College, Christchurch, NZ
Not Basic - Newlands College, Wellington NZ
Sub 56 - Selwyn College, Kohimarama, NZ

UNIVERSITY/STARTUP LEVEL: CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Earthbanc- Melbourne, Australia
GEOTeS PNG- Lae, Papua New Guinea
Lynker Analytics - Wellington NZ
Yadrava na Vanua (Environment Watch) - Suva, Fiji
Lidar Team - Brisbane, Australia
The HEAL Initiative - Auckland, NZ

“It is impressive to see the wide range of proposed approaches from the dozen teams that come from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea. We look forward to helping these teams develop their solutions over the next couple months, and address these global climate change problems.” says Eric Dahlstrom, CTO and Co-Founder of SpaceBase who is co-project manager for the Challenge.

The Challenge Virtual Research Incubator will run between 15 November to 31 January 2022 online. Teams will participate in webinar sessions on topics that include the problem areas (Carbon Sequestration and Coral Health), training sessions on Planet and Allen Coral Atlas portals, as well as data analysis tools like QGIS. Teams will learn about Design Thinking, Rapid Prototyping, User Validation, and building prototypes.

“This Challenge highlights how students today now have the power to address important problems in climate change. The Challenge incubator will give teams access to data from Planet and government satellites, computing tools, and expert advice.” Eric Dahlstrom said.

Challenge partner Planet will be providing satellite data to help with their solutions and Consegna.cloud will provide AWS data storage and cloud computing tools. Mentors and advisors will be available to help teams progress with their projects.

“While we understand that the focus of the challenge is to develop regional Climate Change solutions, we are inclined to participate in the incubator program as it will provide access to space technology resources such as Planet satellite data and relevant technical support that will improve our proposed regional Climate Change solution strategy” says Glen Yali, lead for team GEOTeS Papua New Guinea.

The teams will start the incubator today with an introduction to the programme. "The most exciting thing about participating in the incubator programme is the opportunity to meet people with similar interests and motivation, and to do something that could change the world for the better", said Euan McCauley, team member of Sub 56 from Selwyn College in Kohimarama, NZ. From the University of the South Pacific, Caucau Talei from Fiji says "I love being a part of a diverse and talented team. I'm looking forward to learning more technical skills, networking and collaborating with innovative and entrepreneurial people from around the world."

The incubator programme is designed to help prepare the teams for their final submissions on 31 January 2021. Applicants get a chance to be selected as finalists for the pitch and demo session on 18 February 2022. Grand prize winners receive a cash prize up to $30,000, as well as more data and mentorship to implement their solutions.

For more information about the Challenge and the Incubator, go to spaceforearth.org.

SpaceBase Limited is a New Zealand based education and consulting social enterprise, whose mission is to democratise access to space for everyone. SpaceBase is creating equal opportunity to leverage space technologies to solve problems on Earth, by catalysing space ecosystems in developing and emerging countries, starting in New Zealand. Since its incorporation in 2017, it has collaborated with economic development agencies, local governments, and advocacy groups to deliver over 100 educational presentations and workshops; two national space and aerospace competitions, as well as helping birth space communities and organisations locally and globally. SpaceBase created a platform for the NZ Aerospace Directory and a free course, Catalysing a Space Industry in Your Region, for anyone interested in creating a local space industry. SpaceBase is also the NZ Ambassador to the International Space University.

Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom
SpaceBase Limited
info@spaceforearth.org
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