Join us for a unique seminar where students and experts share their real-life experiences designing, building, and launching satellites. This is not just about space — it’s about what’s possible when curiosity meets opportunity.
In this seminar, you will
- Hear real stories from students who built satellites
- Learn about risk management and signal transmission in space missions
- Explore future pathways in the aerospace industry
- Touch and test real aerospace materials (see if you can bend titanium!)
- Be the first to hear about our upcoming competition and new student programmes – to design, build and launch YOUR SATELLITE into SPACE!
Our Speakers
Prof. Guglielmo Aglietti (in-person)
Director, Auckland Space Institute
A world expert in spacecraft design, Prof Aglietti will speak about his work on some of the large and famous spacecraft with cutting-edge technologies, along with the research and industrial pathways in the rising field of space.
Professor Aglietti is a leading expert in spacecraft structures and mission design. He began his career working on the Columbus module of the International Space Station and has since led high-profile missions such as RemoveDebris (space debris demoval) and contributed to projects like Mathane Sat. Now based in New Zealand, he directs the Auckland Space Institute, driving space research and innovation in Aotearoa.
Annie Peng (remote)
Computer Engineering, Columbia University
Annie, a Kristin School alumna from Auckland, has worked on NASA CubeSat missions and industrial aerospace projects. With a strong passion for aerospace and emerging technologies, she is excited to share how her satellite journey began as an NZ student and how aerospace shaped her path. Her talk will also provide insight into risk management in the state-of-the-art aerospace systems.
Annie is currently a rising fourth-year student in Computer Engineering at Columbia University in New York City. She has contributed to NASA’s CubeSat mission (LIONESS), currently interning at Infinite Orbits (a satellite company in Toulouse, France), and contributing to eVTOL development at Archer Aviation in Silicon Valley, USA.
Amanda (Zichang) Wang (remote)
Electrical Engineering & Aerospace Minor, California Institute of Technology
Amanda led a student CubeSat team in high school and is now a Summer Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. In high school, Amanda served as Program Director of TJ Space, a student-run CubeSat development club with over 90 members. They designed, built, and eventually launched CubeSats to the ISS aboard SpaceX CRS-26 in November 2022. TJ Space participated alongside university teams as a high school program at the 2022 and 2023 SmallSat Conferences, and Amanda co-authored papers on overcoming challenges in high school CubeSat projects. Most recently, as a 2025 Summer Research Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she is working on the Deep Space Network receivers.
She will share the advanced technology and her story of building and launching satellites in high school. The team developed a novel radio-flight computer configuration—integrating an Iridium modem with a Raspberry Pi Zero for in-orbit communications as a technology-demonstration experiment.
Date: Sunday, 17th August 2025
Time: 1:30pm – 3:30pm,
Location: 405-460 (Room 460, Building 405) Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland CBD
(Entry from Symonds Street or Grafton Road. Our volunteers will be at the entrance wearing penguin hats. Feel free to ask them for help if you can’t find the exact room.)
If you have any questions for our speakers before attending this event, please scan the QR code below to submit them. Your questions will remain anonymous.
