MethaneSAT Operations Center
New Zealand's Mission Operations Centre Steers MethaneSAT Satellite
The University of Auckland's Te Pūnaha Ātea - Space Institute is at the helm of a national asset, the Mission Operations Centre (MOCC), designed to support future New Zealand space missions. The MOCC, specifically tasked with monitoring, controlling, and supporting the operations of the MethaneSAT satellite, has been instrumental in the satellite's mission to monitor methane emissions.
Chris Jackson, an engineer at Te Pūnaha Ātea, heads the MOCC team. The MOCC provides the functional capabilities required to monitor and control the satellite in orbit, ensuring mission success through continuous operational support. Early operations were established by Rocket Lab, but Te Pūnaha Ātea took over the full hosting and operation responsibilities after the first year.
The MOCC team handles critical operational tasks such as monitoring satellite health, managing safe mode events triggered by onboard fault detection software, performing recovery procedures, and updating operational protocols to reduce false alarms and improve satellite responsiveness over the mission's lifetime. This includes assessing and resetting satellite electronics after safe mode entries, which were initially frequent due to conservative onboard limits and high solar activity, requiring human review for each event to confirm no severe issues.
A future goal is to automate parts of the recovery process to reduce operator workload and response time, indicating ongoing development and refinement of operational protocols.
The primary purpose of the spacecraft is to monitor methane, and the MOCC schedules imagery accordingly. The MOCC downloads engineering data, including temperatures inside and outside the spacecraft, voltages, and battery and solar array information. The team is also responsible for managing temperatures inside and outside of the satellite, although the method for doing so is not specified.
The MOCC is part of a global network of antennas responsible for data upload and download. It collaborates with Near Earth Network Ground Stations in Chile and Norway, NASA, Awarua Ground Station, and students at the University of Auckland working on CubeSats.
Despite the loss of the MethaneSAT satellite in late June 2025, Te Pūnaha Ātea continues to provide infrastructure and expertise for New Zealand's space industry. The MOCC is being implemented at the University of Auckland with the aim of training the next generation of spacecraft engineers and scientists.
An animation showing the MethaneSAT satellite's passage over Earth and field of view is available, courtesy of MethaneSAT and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The MethaneSAT programme involves collecting telemetry, or satellite data, and the MOCC's cloud-based processing software is used for commanding the spacecraft, scheduling operations, and monitoring telemetry. The method for communicating with the satellite is not specified.
[1] University of Auckland. (n.d.). Te Pūnaha Ātea - Space Institute. Retrieved from https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-university/our-people-and-places/our-institutes-and-centres/te-punaha-atea-space-institute.html
[3] Jackson, C. (2023). MethaneSAT Satellite Operations. Retrieved from https://www.tepuna.ac.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/MethaneSAT-Satellite-Operations.pdf
- The University of Auckland's Te Pūnaha Ātea - Space Institute, tasked with supporting future New Zealand space missions, has been using science and technology to control and monitor the MethaneSAT satellite, a space-and-astronomy project aimed at monitoring methane emissions.
- As the MOCC team continues to handle critical operational tasks and collaborate with other institutions, they aim to advance technology in space-and-astronomy, refining operational protocols to automate parts of the recovery process and providing infrastructure and expertise for New Zealand's growing space industry.
