A childhood dream to explore Antarctica has led a Tauranga-based tech expert to design an innovative solution to navigate the extreme environments of Antarctica and outer space.

And that design has earned John Ahearn and GPS Control Systems Ltd a place in the grand final of the NZ Space Challenge in Christchurch today.

John says the mission was to find a new way of transporting large-scale science projects further into the polar region than ever before.

His team has designed a Global Navigation Satellite System to help heavy-tracked vehicles detect and avoid perilous ice shelf crevasses while traversing the Antarctic ice fields - and potentially some of outer space's trickiest pitfalls.

"A convoy of heavy-tracked vehicles can drag many more tonnes of equipment than a plane can carry, and can travel in almost any weather. The constraint is ice shelf crevasses, which our navigation system tackles," says John.

He says other benefits are minimising crew stress and fatigue, getting equipment where it needs to be safely and on time, and compliance with the Antarctic Treaty.

GPS Control Systems beat other applicants from Northland, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty to emerge as one of the five NZ Space Challenge regional finalists.

John admits he may have a competitive advantage over other teams as he recently visited the Antarctic on a field trip as part of a Post Graduate Certificate in Antarctic studies at Canterbury University.

"My assignment was about machine control applications in the Antarctic, which focused on guiding machines across the ice shelf to the hot water drilling site," he says.

He chose that topic because it relates closely to his professional experience - and the hope that it would result in the opportunity to return to Antarctica with his work mates to install one.

"They were very envious of my trip!" he says of team mates Wade Riley from Hawke's Bay and Russell Van de Laak of Pukekohe.

"So yes, it would appear I have a competitive advantage from thinking about this problem for a long time and having been down there. I like to think it was my creative and innovative mind at work but maybe it was just very good luck," he says.

As well as real-life experience on the Antarctic, John says he's been a fan of the icy continent for a long time.

"My interest in the Antarctic comes from reading the stories of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration when I was about eight years old.

"The journeys of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and others were absolutely amazing. Not only did they explore but they did science on the way.”

The NZ Space Challenge brings together some of the brightest minds from across the country to use space data and intelligence to solve navigation issues on the ice in the Antarctic.

It is the brain child of space enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, Eric Dahlstrom and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom who have forged international careers in the space community and have chosen to settle in New Zealand, establishing SpaceBase with fellow co-founder Rich Bodo.

SpaceBase has partnered with economic development agency ChristchurchNZ to deliver this national challenge and the winners will be announced in Christchurch today as part of the Techweek'18 event, Extreme Environments - from Antarctica to Space.

John and his team will join the five other regional finalists to pitch their Antarctic navigation innovations to a panel of national and international judges, with $40,000 going to the winning designer.

Watch a video about John's NZ Space Challenge entry below.