Advertising for trustees and directors for CSST began on Tuesday and the successful trustees would hopefully be finalised by the end of the month, CSST ambassador Greg Bodeker said. Directors would be appointed in March. Five directors and five trustees will be appointed.
Mr Bodeker, whose firm Bodeker Scientific led the bid for the CSST programme, said the CSST chief executive officer position would then be advertised in April, and the director of research and director of operations positions in June.Advertising for other staff roles would follow.
CSST will provide about 40 FTE positions, half of which will be in Alexandra and the rest in the centre’s other offices in Dunedin, New Plymouth and Lincoln.
Mr Bodeker is not involved with the search to fill any of the roles, but has fielded dozens of inquiries and expressions of interest for jobs with CSST.
"They are just people who are contacting me to find out about it and saying they would love to be involved."
CSST’s $14.7 million of government funding was announced in November and the formal contract for funding would hopefully be signed this month, he said.
The funding will be spread over three and a-half years and there will be additional funding from industry.
CSST will operate as a private, independently governed organisation and is expected to open by July 1 this year.
● CSST will establish an international satellite data exchange and collaborate with leading researchers and businesses, both here and abroad, to design, build and launch New Zealand’s first fleet of cube satellites. CSST will then use the space-based measurements and satellite imagery to meet the specific needs of regional industries in areas such as irrigation and agriculture, snow and ice, oceans and atmosphere, regional planning and hazard management, data telemetry and forestry.
