In his inaugural lecture, Rainbows in space—Using spectroscopy to understand the Earth and Mars, the newly appointed Professor of Practice at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington will explore the vast information that can be found hiding in light.
Much like the light that he studies, Professor Pollock’s journey to this point was long, passing through multiple phases and time zones before reaching Te Herenga Waka’s Paihau—Robinson Research Institute as the chief scientist for Space Research.
In 1985, Professor Pollock began studying at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he met his wife and now-colleague at Robinson, senior principal engineer Betina Pavri. He started as a biologist, moved into chemistry, then into applied physics, and considered becoming an astronomer, but ultimately decided against it.
“They had a degree they called Engineering Applied Science, where you didn’t have to concentrate on any one field, so I took advantage of it and took a huge variety of all sorts of STEM classes.
“I took mechanical engineering classes, thermal classes, a few electrical classes, and a lot of optics. Unbeknownst to me, this set me up to be what's called a systems engineer, which I had not heard of until I had my first job interview.”
Being a systems engineer meant that Professor Pollock could sit with someone and talk about thermal design and then talk to the people who were writing the software to control that thermal system. He could talk with the science team as well as the team developing the instrument.
“I could speak both of their languages—I knew enough that I could sit in a room with any of these disciplines and have a meaningful conversation and understand where their problems were going to come from.”
After his time at Caltech, Professor Pollock later became an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he would support NASA missions for 35 years.
Much of his work involved developing scientific instruments to answer fundamental questions about the Earth’s climate systems—including the first missions designed to monitor carbon dioxide from space (the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions), where he served as the lead instrument engineer.
In addition to Earth missions, he served as the chief engineer of SHERLOC—one of the key science instruments on the robotic arm for the Perseverance Mars rover.
After three decades and eight space missions, Professor Pollock was managing larger and larger teams and missed the technical work.
“I was looking for an opportunity to return to engineering and science work and had always felt that I would enjoy teaching. After a wonderful holiday in New Zealand in 2017, I put two and two together and started looking at options to teach in New Zealand.
"I was excited to find the opening at the Paihau—Robinson Research Institute to lead their newly formed space research group. I stared at it for several weeks and applied, and then all of a sudden, it was like the universe had called my bluff. I either do this or I don't do this, and if I don't do it, I'll always wonder," he says.
Since beginning at the University four years ago, Professor Pollock’s experience at NASA has helped to guide his work—most recently, helping to guide Hēki home.
Launched on 15 September 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, as part of Northrop Grumman’s NG-23 resupply flight to the International Space Station (ISS), the Hēki Mission marked the first time a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet of its class had been tested in orbit.
One year later the pioneering superconductivity project successfully returned to the Institute after spending close to six months operating on the International Space Station.
“Everything I've ever worked on has been a one-way journey. It goes into space and you never get to see it again. So, it was very exciting to welcome Hēki back to our lab after it had been to space.”
In his inaugural lecture, Professor Pollock will illustrate how spectroscopy has been used throughout history to ask and answer the big questions.
“There is just so much information hiding in light. We can't visit stars or distant galaxies, but we know a lot about these things by looking at subtle differences in how colours come off those objects."
Professor Pollock's inaugural lecture, Rainbows in space—Using spectroscopy to understand the Earth and Mars, will be held on Wednesday 14 October from 5.30–6.30 pm in the Hunter Council Chamber, Level 2, Hunter building, Kelburn campus. Register to attend.