It’s one small 45-minute flight from Kerikeri to Wellington, but potentially a giant leap for Nasa’s climate science division.

Air New Zealand has partnered with the American space agency as part of a scientific mission to better understand the effect of climate change on the planet.

Carrying Nasa instruments on their fleet of Q300s, Air New Zealand will begin an important data gathering mission at level not currently available to the space agency.

“This is the first time that we’ve ever taken scientific instruments and put them on a commercial airline,” said Professor Chris Ruf, principal investigator for the Nasa mission.

Source: Read Full Article