2026 Space Scholarship recipients

The New Zealand Space Scholarship supports the students are participating in a 3-month internship programme at JPL, where they’re working alongside scientists and engineers who are part of world-leading NASA missions.

Each intern has been paired with a JPL mentor and assigned a research project, gaining hands-on experience while contributing directly to JPL’s science and exploration goals. The programme also offered opportunities to collaborate with a diverse community of researchers, engineers, and fellow interns in both formal and informal settings.

This marks the fourth in-person cohort of New Zealand students selected for internships at JPL, continuing a growing legacy of Kiwi talent contributing to global space exploration.

Zhen Hong Chai

Zhen Hong Chai (Zac) is completing a Master of Physics at Victoria University of Wellington. Zhen Hong's Master's research focuses on Applied Field Magnetoplasmadynamic (AF-MPD) thrusters and their feasibility for future space missions. At JPL, Zhen Hong will contribute to the end-to-end implementation of telemetry analysis for a project within the Mars Science Laboratory rover mission.

Kyja McCabe

Kyja McCabe is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at the University of Auckland working on cryogenic power electronics for electric aviation propulsion. While at JPL, Kyja will be involved in developing new power electronics systems with the goal of achieving efficiencies and power in spacecraft power converters.

Laura Doyle

Laura Doyle is completing a Master of Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington where she is using microwaves to produce green hydrogen (H2). At JPL Laura will be involved in exploring how methane (CH₄) breaks down when exposed to light.

Alexander Wiseman

Alexander Wiseman is completing his PhD in Electrical Engineering at Victoria University of Wellington. While at JPL, Alexander will be working in the UltraViolet EXplorer (UVEX) detector team, where he will get hands-on experience in detector development, performance modelling, and evaluation from a system level point of view.

Laura Franssen

Laura Franssen is completing a PhD in Microbiology at the Auckland University of Technology, focusing on improving our understanding of bacterial life in environments analogous to those on Mars. While at JPL, she will be involved in an astrovirology project, testing how space-like salty water and ice conditions affect certain viruses as they freeze and thaw. The results will help future space missions know how to look for life and show that certain viruses could be used as evidence of life.

Thomas Phillips

Thomas Phillips is completing a Master of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Auckland. Thomas will be involved in JPL’s Ultra-Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon (UCIS-Moon) project. He will be designing and implementing an updated cryogenic rotational stage used to test and fine-tune the instrument.

Angela Xue

Angela Xue is a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington. While at JPL, she will be supporting astrophysics research and analysis, looking at how certain gases (HD, hydrogen (H₂), and carbon monoxide (CO)) behave by seeing how they interact with vacuum ultraviolet (UV) light.