Dr Greg Bodeker, whose firm Bodeker Scientific led the bid for funding for the CSST project, said it was a ''formality'' having the contract signed, but ''comforting to have it in hand''.
CSST's six-month establishment plan, which began on January 1, was on track and the centre was on schedule to open on July 1.
CSST governance advisory committee chairman Warwick Hawker said applications for CSST's five trustees and five directors had closed. The trustees would, hopefully, be announced next week and director announcements would follow.
•CSST will receive $14.7 million of government funding spread over three and a-half years, with additional funding from industry.
It will be a private, independently governed organisation and establish an international satellite data exchange and collaborate with researchers and businesses, both here and abroad, to design, build and launch New Zealand's first fleet of cube satellites.
CSST will use the space-based data to meet the needs of regional industries in areas such as irrigation and agriculture, oceans and atmosphere, and regional planning and hazard management.
