G’Day Moon:

On 13 October 2021, the Australian Space Agency reached an agreement with NASA for an Australian-made, semi-autonomous rover to be part of a future mission to the Moon. The mission will demonstrate Australia‘s world leading skills and experience in remote operations and autonomous systems. This draws on our expertise from the resources and mining sectors.

The Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars initiative is a $150 million investment over five years to drive the growth of Australia’s space sector. The $50 million Trailblazer program is the flagship element of the Moon to Mars initiative.

The Trailblazer program is calling on the expertise of Australian businesses and researchers, to develop and build a small rover. This mission is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. It will also support future missions to Mars.

The ELO2 Consortium, an unparalleled collaboration of industry organisations and leading research organisations from across Australia focused on space exploration, has been selected to design, construct and operate the Australian-made rover, "Roo-ver", on the lunar surface.

This selection of ELO2 follows its remarkable achievements in the preliminary design process, during which four rover prototypes were developed and rigorously tested by the Consortium partners with $4 million funding from the Australian Government, through the Australian Space Agency.

ELO2 will harness expertise from all states and territories to undertake the Roo-ver mission. Together, they will pioneer Australia's first lunar exploration by delivering a rover that is fully designed, manufactured, and tested in Australia - demonstrating the country's technical leadership and engineering prowess.