This is the kind of thing you dream about as a kid
From the edge of the Pacific, two young engineers have been drawn into the gravitational pull of humanity's oldest ambition — to leave the world and understand it from beyond. Kyja McCabe and Thomas Phillips, students at the University of Auckland, will spend three months at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2026, working on the power systems and imaging instruments that future lunar and Martian missions depend upon. Their selection as New Zealand Space Scholars is not merely a personal achievement but a signal that Aotearoa is beginning to occupy a meaningful place in the long human project of reaching outward. And crucially, both intend to bring what they learn home.
- Two University of Auckland engineers have won spots at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory — one of the most competitive research environments on Earth — through the 2026 New Zealand Space Scholarship.
- McCabe is designing power distribution electronics for permanent off-world bases, solving the foundational problem that must be cracked before humans can truly stay on the Moon or Mars.
- Phillips is embedded in an active lunar imaging mission, building and refining the cryogenic testing platform that determines whether sensitive hardware will survive the brutal conditions of space.
- Both scholars describe the opportunity as something that once seemed structurally impossible from New Zealand — the scholarship exists precisely to dismantle that assumption.
- Rather than treating JPL as a destination, both frame it as a training ground — their stated intention is to return and accelerate New Zealand's own aerospace sector with what they learn.
Two University of Auckland engineering students, Kyja McCabe and Thomas Phillips, are among seven recipients of the 2026 New Zealand Space Scholarship — a distinction that places them inside NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for three months, working on missions that are actively being built to leave Earth.
McCabe, who studies electrical, computer and software engineering, is tackling one of the most foundational challenges in space exploration: how to distribute power reliably on the surfaces of other worlds. Without that infrastructure, permanent bases on the Moon or Mars cannot exist. His ambition, however, is not simply to do the work — it is to bring the knowledge home. "To be able to go learn at an institution like JPL and to hopefully apply that knowledge to progressing the aerospace industry at home is an unreal opportunity," he says.
Phillips, completing a Master of Aerospace Engineering, has been assigned to the Ultra-Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon project. His role is precise and consequential: refining the cryogenic rotational stage of a testing platform that simulates the extreme cold and vacuum of space, verifying that components will survive the real thing. It is the kind of meticulous work that determines whether a mission succeeds or fails.
What distinguishes this program is that both students are embedded within active missions — not observing, but contributing. For Phillips, the moment of selection carried a particular weight. "This is the kind of thing you dream about when you're a little kid. I didn't think it would be possible coming from New Zealand, and yet here I am." The scholarship exists partly to make that possibility visible — to demonstrate that engineers from Aotearoa can compete and contribute at the highest level.
Both scholars carry an implicit commitment to return. Their time at JPL is framed not as an escape but as a training mission — an investment, ultimately, in New Zealand's capacity to build a space sector of its own.
Two engineering students from the University of Auckland have secured spots in a competitive international program that will send them to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for three months. Kyja McCabe and Thomas Phillips are among seven recipients of the 2026 New Zealand Space Scholarship, a distinction that opens a direct pathway into one of the world's most consequential space research institutions.
McCabe, who studies electrical, computer and software engineering, will focus on a problem that becomes urgent the moment humans commit to staying beyond Earth. He is developing electronics for power distribution systems that will operate on the surfaces of other worlds—the Moon, Mars, and whatever comes after. The work is foundational: without reliable power infrastructure, permanent bases cannot exist. "Aotearoa is my favourite place on the planet," McCabe says, "so to be able to go learn at an institution like JPL and to hopefully apply that knowledge to progressing the aerospace industry at home is an unreal opportunity." The framing matters. He is not simply chasing prestige abroad. He is treating JPL as a training ground, a place to acquire knowledge he intends to bring home.
Phillips, completing a Master of Aerospace Engineering, has been assigned to the Ultra-Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon project—a piece of hardware designed to see what lunar surfaces are made of. His role is more immediately technical. He will work on the cryogenic rotational stage of a testing platform, the apparatus that simulates the extreme cold and vacuum of space so engineers can verify that components will survive the actual environment. "I'll be involved in testing and analysing sub-system components of the platform to find where improvements can be made, and then using computer aided design software to design those improvements," he explains. It is meticulous work, the kind that determines whether a mission succeeds or fails.
What makes this opportunity distinctive is not simply that two New Zealand students are going to California. It is that they will be embedded within active space missions, working alongside scientists and engineers who are building hardware that will leave Earth. They are not observing from a distance. They are part of the apparatus.
Phillips describes the moment he learned he had been selected: disbelief, then a lingering sense of unreality. "This is the kind of thing you dream about when you're a little kid. I didn't think it would be possible coming from New Zealand, and yet here I am." The statement carries weight. It suggests that pathways to this kind of work have not historically been obvious from Aotearoa. The scholarship exists partly to change that calculus—to make it visible that New Zealand engineers can compete at this level, can contribute to missions that matter globally.
Both students carry an implicit intention: to return. McCabe's comment about applying what he learns to the aerospace industry at home is not throwaway sentiment. It reflects a deliberate choice to treat this internship not as an escape route but as a training mission. The scholarship, in that sense, is an investment in New Zealand's capacity to build its own space sector. Two engineers who have worked at JPL, who understand how the work is done at the highest level, who have built networks and credibility within the space community—those are assets that do not stay in California. They come home.
Citações Notáveis
Aotearoa is my favourite place on the planet, so to be able to go learn at an institution like JPL and to hopefully apply that knowledge to progressing the aerospace industry at home is an unreal opportunity.— Kyja McCabe, electrical and software engineering student
This is the kind of thing you dream about when you're a little kid. I didn't think it would be possible coming from New Zealand, and yet here I am.— Thomas Phillips, aerospace engineering master's student
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What exactly will McCabe be building when he gets to JPL? Is this theoretical work or hands-on hardware?
It's hardware. He's developing the actual electronics that will distribute power on another planet's surface. When a rover lands on Mars or when humans set up a lunar base, the power has to flow from the source to every system that needs it. That's what he's engineering.
And Phillips is testing things at extreme temperatures. Why is that so critical?
Because space is brutally cold and empty. If a component fails in a lab at room temperature, you catch it before it leaves Earth. If it fails on the Moon because no one tested it in vacuum at minus 200 degrees, the mission is compromised. He's the person who finds those failures before they matter.
Both of them seem to emphasize bringing this knowledge back to New Zealand. Is that realistic? Don't most people who get opportunities like this stay in the US?
Some do. But the scholarship structure itself is designed to create a pipeline home. These aren't just internships—they're credentialing moments. When McCabe and Phillips return, they'll have JPL on their résumé. They'll have networks. They'll understand how world-class space engineering actually works. That's exactly what New Zealand needs if it wants to build its own aerospace sector.
So this is partly about brain drain prevention?
It's more subtle than that. It's about making sure that when New Zealand engineers do come home, they bring something with them. The scholarship recognizes that talent exists here, but the infrastructure and the scale of work don't yet. So you send people out to learn, and you structure the program so they want to come back and build something.
What does Phillips mean when he says he didn't think this was possible from New Zealand?
He means the visibility wasn't there. You grow up in Auckland, you don't see a clear path to NASA. You don't know that scholarships like this exist, or that you're eligible, or that people like you have done it before. The scholarship changes that. It makes the path visible.