Payloads approved for launch

As part of this commitment we are releasing, on a quarterly basis, a summary of all payloads approved for launch by the Minister for Space.

List of all approved payloads to 31 December 2025

Summary of approved payloads

We have approved a range of payloads for launch from New Zealand and this diversity is shown below by country, owner, purpose and size of all payloads up to 31 December 2025.

Where information has not been published about a payload, there are grounds for withholding that information under the Official Information Act 1982.

Number of payload permits approved

17 payload permits were issued between 1 October and 31 December 2025, bringing the total to 149 payload permits approved to date. 

Payload owners by organisation type

149 payload permits have been issued to 103 different organisations, including:

• 59 commercial organisations
• 17 for government organisations
• 25 for academic institutions
• 2 for non-profit organisations

Note that some payload permits are for more than 1 satellite.

Payload purposes

The following summarise some of the approved payload purposes for science, technology demonstration, remote sensing, educational, and other commercial. Note some payloads can have more than one purpose.

Science

Some examples of scientific payloads that have been launched from New Zealand include:

• collecting data from space to investigate whether there is a link between atmospheric activity and tectonic activity on Earth
• conducting space weather experiments
• collecting radio signals from outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

Technology demonstration

Some examples of technology demonstration payloads that have been launched from New Zealand include:

• demonstrating audio, video and data file transfer capabilities between ground facilities and the payloads
• providing calibration points for ground based radar to assist with the tracking of orbital debris
• testing efficient battery charging in an orbital environment.

Remote sensing

Remote sensing includes observing the Earth from their respective satellites and providing these images to their customers. Some examples of remote sensing payloads that have launched from New Zealand include:

• satellites gaining real-time images;
• maritime traffic tracking;
• defence and security. 

Educational 

There are a range of educational missions that we have approved payloads for; this includes for students in Mexico, Australia and several U.S. academic institutions who have developed and built CubeSats that we launched in New Zealand. Some of their missions encapsulate research and development and remote sensing purposes and include:

• conducting digital image processing and software improvement experiments as part of their study
• broadcasting Morse Code messages across the world on amateur radio frequencies. Students around the world will be able to receive these messages
• collecting and recording data on the radiation present in low Earth Orbit
• taking photos of the Earth, Moon and Venus with the integrated camera.

Communications

Some examples of communications payloads that have been launched from New Zealand include:

• providing commercial data connectivity services through low-power and low-data rate VHF communications between Earth and space.

Other commercial

Commercial organisations put up a variety of payloads for different purposes including science, remote sensing and technology demonstration, communications and educational. Other commercial purposes which do not fit into these categories include:

• creating artificial meteor showers
• sending ashes to space. 

Approved payloads

The below summaries are for all payloads approved between 1 October and 31 December 2025.

Where information has not been published about a payload, there are grounds for withholding that information under the Official Information Act 1982.