Minister for industry and science, Ed Husic, along with dignitaries from the Australian Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made the announcement earlier this week.
The two consortiums will design rovers for Australia’s first mission to the Moon in partnership with NASA. Each winning consortium is made up of a mixture of Australian industries, space start-ups, major resource companies, universities, and other research partners.
The rover will collect lunar soil from the Moon and deliver it to a NASA payload which will attempt to extract oxygen from the sample.
The rover is part of the NASA Moon to Mars mission which will be a major step towards a sustainable human presence on the Moon and supporting future missions to Mars. It aims to launch by 2026.
In a continuing sign of the close cooperation between Australia and the United States, NASA administrator Bill Nelson and deputy administrator Pamela Melroy are visiting Australia, the first visit of a sitting NASA administrator since 2014.
“It is great that, with this announcement, Administrator Nelson will get to witness first-hand the extensive knowledge and capability in our space sector, as well as robotics and automation more broadly,” Husic said.
“From those selected to be part of the Trailblazer program, to other industry success stories and our impressive universities and research organisations, Australia has much to be proud of. Programs like Trailblazer are important to growing our space sector, as well as our know-how in robotics and automation. It also has an important role to play in inspiring more young Australians to consider STEM careers.”
Nelson said he was excited to be working with Australia on this important lunar mission.
“It’s cooperation like this that will enable NASA and our international partners to uncover more discoveries. In this new era of space exploration, every advancement is not an achievement for one country – but for all of humanity.”
Head of the Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo said this announcement is another step toward Australia’s first mission to the Moon.
“From those selected to be part of the Trailblazer program, to other industry success stories and our impressive universities and research organisations, Australia has much to be proud of. Programs like Trailblazer are important to growing our space sector, as well as our know-how in robotics and automation. It also has an important role to play in inspiring more young Australians to consider STEM careers.”
The Trailblazer program will help further develop Australia’s robotics and automation capability, aligning with the development of the Australian Government’s National Robotics Strategy.
The EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium’s lead organisations include BHP, Northrop Grumman Australia, RMIT University’s Space Industry Hub, and University of Melbourne’s Space Laboratory. University of Adelaide, Inovor, Australian National University, Element Robotics, Colorado School of Mines and Saber Astronautics will provide specialist contributions, and Australian Industry Collaborators include Titomic, One Giant Leap, VI
AROSE’s consortium is led by Fugro and Nova Systems, with additional support provided by Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto and the Western Australian Government.
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