Lunar rover made in Australia unveiled

Adelaide recently hosted the unveiling of the ELO₂ Consortium’s pioneering lunar rover prototype, demonstrating Australia’s potential to support a future NASA Artemis mission to the Moon.

The working rover showcases Australia’s expertise in mining and robotics in extreme environments. It is designed to collect and transport lunar regolith (Moon soil) to a NASA-run facility on the Moon, where oxygen will be extracted to prove technology essential for a sustainable human presence on the Moon, and production of rocket fuel to support a future mission to Mars.

The ELO₂ rover prototype will traverse both a lunar and Martian-like surface in Adelaide through Lunar Outpost’s lunar mission ready Stargate remote operations software, in an end-to-end remote operation demonstration. The display will highlight the collaboration and expertise of ELO₂ Consortium partners from Australia’s universities and industry who designed, built and tested this working rover, in just three months.

The ELO₂ Consortium is one of two Australian consortia working on the design with funding from the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Trailblazer Program Stage 1 with an ambition to land a rover, to be named Roo-ver, on the Moon as part of a future NASA Artemis mission later this decade.

The ELO₂ Consortium is a national mission co-led by EPE Oceania and Lunar Outpost Oceania. Consortium partners from across the nation have collaborated to build an Australian Made rover:

• Lunar Outpost Oceania spearheaded the design and integration efforts out of its Melbourne office, with RMIT University’s Space Industry Hub and Advanced Manufacturing Precinct manufacturing the rover structure.
• Queensland-based EPE and The University of Adelaide are responsible for ongoing testing and evaluation of the rover.
• Inovor, based in Adelaide, provided the electrical power system, while Melbourne startup Element Robotics contributed to capability and autonomy systems.
• The University of Melbourne’s Space Laboratory conducted thermal analysis, with systems engineering support from Northrop Grumman Australia.
• BHP provided expertise in excavation, while The Australian National University Institute for Space (InSpace) supported the communications subsystems development.
• VIPAC will conduct various flight qualification tests at facilities across Australia and Titomic, also based in Melbourne, will provide speciality flight part manufacturing if the ELO₂design is selected for Stage 2.

“We chose the Australian Rover Challenge in Adelaide to demonstrate the new Trailblazer rover’s capability, and to share the excitement of what’s possible for university students in Australia,” said ELO₂ Technical Director with Lunar Outpost Oceania, Joseph Kenrick. “Over the course of four days, students from universities across the country will learn how to rapidly design, build, and test rovers with functions similar to what will be required on the Moon.”

As part of the testing phases, the ELO₂ rover will travel across Australia over the coming months to various test facilities and will be making appearances around its testing schedule to engage the public, offering insights into the advancements, challenges and discoveries on the path toward Australia’s lunar exploration milestone.

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