New Zealand is third in the world for the number of orbital rocket launches from our shores, sitting just behind the US and China. Phil Vine discovers some of the challenges raised by our push into the unknown and how it is changing the final frontier.

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• Through a science experiment on the ISS, New Zealand researchers have been taking advantage of the unique conditions in low earth orbit to investigate commercial opportunities.
• While New Zealand is well known as a place from which to launch rockets, we do not have a lot of our own hardware in space (the University of Auckland does have TPA-1 CubeSat). But that might be about to change.
• Tech bros turned space bros like Elon Musk are making big waves out in orbit. The latest news is that Musk is hoping to harness the sun through satellites to power AI data centres.
• The New Zealand government's biggest investment in an international space mission ended in failure last year after MethaneSAT, a satellite built to detect methane emissions around the world, lost contact.
• While there are challenges inherent in humans and their technology being in space, that’s not all that is going on. Scientists are keeping a close eye on an active black hole and bright lights have Northland locals turning their eyes to the skies.

Guests:

• Mark Rocket, CEO Kea Aerospace
• Dr Priyanka Dhopade, senior lecturer in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, University of Auckland
• Dr Tuana Yazici, space law expert

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details