Frond Space Systems

Founded by Dr. Ben Taylor and Dr. Jason Shore, Frond Space Systems emerged from the University of Auckland's Space Institute, Te Pūnaha Ātea, at the heart of New Zealand's growing space industry. The company brings together multiple decades of combined flight-system experience to address one of space's most pressing challenges: debris mitigation and responsible deorbiting.

Frond's product portfolio centres on passive drag-sail deorbit systems—compact, low-mass devices that increase a satellite's atmospheric drag to accelerate re-entry and comply with the international 25-year orbital debris guidelines. Their NANO Dragsail targets the CubeSat segment while the MICRO Dragsail handles larger microsatellites, and the Boom Systems product line offers versatile deployable booms for additional mission types.

Operating as a vertically integrated engineering company, Frond designs and manufactures its core subsystems locally in New Zealand. This gives customers direct access to the engineering team and allows rapid iteration during integration. The company prides itself on mission reliability, agility, and a passion for solving the hard problems in the space environment.

Frond Space Systems collaborates with trusted composite suppliers such as RolaTube Technology Limited and supports a broad range of international missions, bringing New Zealand engineering expertise to the global small-satellite market.