Defence Minister Judith Collins said Operation Olympic Defender partners wanted a peaceful space environment. Photo: NASA
New Zealand retains operational sovereignty within a US-led space operation, Defence Minister Judith Collins says.
The country has accepted an invitation to join Operation Olympic Defender which aims to deter threats in space from hostile countries and space debris.
France was invited too, but said it had to be sure it would retain sovereignty.
Collins told Morning Report that New Zealand's joining would not impinge on that here.
"It doesn't. I've already checked with that and it's very clear, is that, our ... liaison officer will in fact be commanded from New Zealand, that there is no loss of sovereignty at all."
Collins said Operation Olympic Defender partners wanted a peaceful space environment, and the operation would help protect vital satellite services like GPS and maritime monitoring.
"It is absolutely important that New Zealand is committed to working with our key security partners on the common objective of space security and supporting an effective rules-based system.
"There is no reason why New Zealand cannot continue to maintain a range of relationships and it's very important that New Zealand's steps up and does what we can," she said.
"Because we're talking about one liaison officer for two years, in an area where we would have absolutely no hope of protecting our own satellites."
Australia, the UK and Canada are already members of Olympic Defender.
