The Otago Museum has received $350,000 in government funding to create "Tuhura Tuarangi — Aotearoa in Space", a mobile exhibition that will celebrate New Zealand in space.
It is set to tour across the country in 2022 and 2023, with particular emphasis on taking it to hard-to-reach communities.
"Tuhura Tuarangi", led by the museum’s Dr Craig Grant, will include a range of hands-on exhibits, interactive displays, demonstrations and immersive experiences.
It will also highlight the career opportunities that the emerging space sector offers.
Museum director and astronomer Dr Ian Griffin said New Zealand was now a space-faring nation.
With that status came a new range of "exciting" opportunities for young people.
“The kaupapa is to encourage students towards careers in the space industry and in STEM subjects”, he said.
“Science is increasingly important to New Zealand’s future, and at Otago Museum we want to inspire the next generation to lead us.”
Tuhura Tuarangi will illustrate the country’s progress in understanding and engaging with space and highlight the central role that matauranga Maori and science, technology, engineering and mathematic subjects played in that journey.
It will be created in collaboration with the Museum of Transport and Technology, the Science Learning Hub, researchers from the universities of Auckland, Canterbury and Otago, and stakeholders from across New Zealand’s space industry.
The funding was provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
