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Awarua Tracking Station is an Earth station commissioned by and used by the European Space Agency located on the Awarua Plain in Southland, New Zealand. It was developed by Venture Southland, a joint committee of the Invercargill City Council, Southland District Council and Gore District Council. The station tracks Ariane 5 launch vehicles following their launch from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana for the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) missions.
The site was chosen because of its high latitude, low horizons and isolation from sources of radio interference. It has a broadband link to the Internet.
Awarua is also used by a lightning detection project measuring lightning up to 6000 km away and by a project collecting radio noise data.
The station was used in 2008 to track Jules Verne, and in 2011, was used to track the launch of Johannes Kepler; both are Automated Transfer Vehicle servicing the International Space Station.
Work with Planet Labs
In 2014 the Awarua Satellite Ground Station was chosen by Planet Labs to download some of the data from their 28 earth observation satellites called Flock-1. A 7-meter radome was constructed at the site to house the satellite dish that would download the data from the satellites.