Why the internet depends on a radio telescope north of Auckland

By measuring signals from distant galaxies, SpaceOps NZ helps support the global timing and positioning systems that modern communications depend on.

The internet depends on accurate time.

At a rural site north of Auckland, SpaceOps NZ helps maintain that precision by listening to radio signals from some of the most distant objects in the universe.

To most people, they would be indistinguishable from background noise. But by measuring them with extraordinary precision, SpaceOps NZ helps determine the Earth's orientation in space and contributes to the timing systems that underpin modern life.

The work is part of a specialised field known as space geodesy, using a technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). It relies on observations from radio telescopes around the world, as well as one of New Zealand's most precise scientific instruments: a hydrogen maser clock housed at the Warkworth Space Centre.

The results help support global navigation satellite systems such as GPS, which are used for everything from navigation and surveying to telecommunications and internet services.

"By looking at colliding galaxies at the edge of the universe, we keep the internet going," says SpaceOps NZ Chief Executive Robin McNeill.

Measuring a moving planet

Although we might think of the Earth as fixed, it is in fact constantly moving.

The planet's rotation varies slightly over time, while the position of the poles shifts due to complex processes occurring deep beneath the Earth's surface. To keep global positioning and timing systems accurate, scientists need to continually measure these changes.

Using the Warkworth antennas and hydrogen maser clock, SpaceOps NZ participates in an international network that observes distant radio sources simultaneously. By comparing those observations, researchers can determine the Earth's orientation with remarkable accuracy.

This precision matters a lot more than many of us realise. While GPS is best known for helping people navigate, the satellite systems also provide highly accurate timing signals that support telecommunications networks, financial systems and critical internet infrastructure around the world.

Without precise timing and positioning information, many of these digital services we rely on every day would quickly begin to drift out of sync.

A petabyte-scale data challenge

"By looking at colliding galaxies at the edge of the universe, we keep the internet going" - Robin McNeill, CEO SpaceOps NZ

Generating the measurements is only part of the challenge.

Each observing session produces huge amounts of data that have to be compared with observations from radio telescopes elsewhere in the world. The resulting datasets can reach petabyte scale.

Before high-capacity research networks became available, many VLBI observations were transported physically on tapes and hard drives to international correlators for analysis. Today, SpaceOps NZ transfers the data electronically to international processing centres, where observations from multiple stations are combined and analysed.

That process depends on REANNZ's high-capacity fibre-optic network.

SpaceOps NZ twice weekly transfers data from Warkworth to international correlators in Europe and elsewhere, moving information at speeds that would be impractical over conventional internet connections.

"We couldn't even get started without the REANNZ network," says McNeill.

The specialised data transfer protocols used for VLBI observations are designed for high-performance research environments. Without dedicated research networking infrastructure, moving the data efficiently and reliably would be significantly more difficult.

From geodesy to space missions

While space geodesy remains a core part of SpaceOps NZ's business, the organisation is also helping support a growing number of commercial and scientific space missions.

The company operates facilities at both Warkworth and Awarua near Invercargill, where its ground station infrastructure provides communications services for spacecraft ranging from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to lunar missions.

SpaceOps NZ recently contributed to tracking activities associated with NASA's Artemis programme, and has supported commercial lunar mission operators. It is also working with international partners to help address growing demand for communications infrastructure as more organisations return to the Moon and expand activities beyond Earth orbit.

As the space sector grows, so too will the volume of data generated by spacecraft and Earth observation systems.

SpaceOps NZ is already exploring technologies that would allow radio frequency signals to be transported over fibre networks between sites, as well as future applications involving high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imagery. Individual datasets can reach terabyte scale, creating new opportunities for advanced processing and analysis.

Those requirements could eventually extend beyond networking to high-performance computing.

For REANNZ, the partnership highlights the growing connection between research infrastructure, digital infrastructure and New Zealand's emerging space capability.

Today, REANNZ helps move the data that supports precision timing and positioning. Tomorrow, the same connectivity could help enable new lunar missions, advanced Earth observation programmes and the next generation of space-enabled services.

All of it starts with signals arriving from the farthest reaches of the universe and a network capable of moving that information wherever it is needed.