2025 Space Scholarship recipients
Seven exceptional university students have earned New Zealand Space Scholarships and will intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
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Sponsored by the New Zealand Space Agency, the students will participate in a 3-month internship programme at JPL, where they’ll work alongside scientists and engineers who are part of world-leading NASA missions.
Each intern will be 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 offers opportunities to collaborate with a diverse community of researchers, engineers, and fellow interns in both formal and informal settings.
This marks the third in-person cohort of New Zealand students selected for internships at JPL, continuing a growing legacy of Kiwi talent contributing to global space exploration.
2025 Interns
Asif Rasha
Asif Rasha is currently completing his PhD in Mathematical Sciences at Auckland University of Technology, focusing on developing surface and optics measurement techniques for radio telescopes using terrestrial laser scanning. He will undertake an internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, contributing to the development of an innovative noise mitigation system for large antenna structures used in spacecraft and satellite communications. This system aims to reduce mechanical background noise, enhancing the reliability and clarity of deep space communication.
Felix Goddard
Felix Goddard is completing a PhD in Physics at the University of Canterbury with a focus on atmospheric and climate sciences. The project at JPL that Felix will be participating in is looking at new techniques of measurement of aerosols (tiny particles in the atmosphere like soot, dust, liquid droplets) from satellite images, crucial for climate analyses due to the way aerosols interact with clouds and rainfall. This is essential for understanding the climate system.
Jack Patterson
Jack Patterson is completing a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Canterbury focusing on exploring deep learning techniques to tackle challenges involved in surveying and characterizing the outer solar system. Jack’s internship at JPL will be focusing on demonstrating the feasibility of data-driven onboard and ground-based anomaly detection and isolation for a rover system.
Mark Bishop
Mark Bishop is completing a PhD in Physics at Victoria University of Wellington. He is applying a range of analytical and numerical techniques to understand how to best measure turbulence in astrophysical fluids from telescope data. Mark will be participating in a project at JPL studying the Big Bang and the early universe via the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.
Shivam Desai
Shivam Desai is a Mechatronics Engineering Masters student at the University of Auckland, with a strong interest in aerospace engineering. Shivam’s Masters research is on developing the hardware and software for the on-board data handling system of a CubeSat and integrating this with other systems to produce a highly integrated avionics package to be used in a future mission. Shivam’s internship at JPL will focus on research related to cutting edge space deployable structures.
Sofie Claridge
Sofie Claridge is completing a PhD in Machine Learning at Victoria University of Wellington, focusing on using machine learning to enhance temperature sensing capabilities of fibre cables to help monitor harsh environments like fusion reactors. Sofie’s internship at JPL will focus on using machine learning to detect anomalous scenarios with a lunar rover.
Taran John
Taran John is completing a PhD in Computer Science from Victoria University of Wellington. Taran's PhD specialises in Artificial Intelligence, specifically applying Machine Learning in Computer Vision. Taran's internship at JPL will focus on a project to facilitate the interaction between astronauts and surface systems in support of in-situ sampling using an AI assistant.