Moon rover prototypes get big workout in Adelaide in 2024 as part of Australia's link to NASA lunar expeditions
The Moon rover prototype was unveiled on Adelaide's Hamilton Secondary College's simulated lunar surface (inset left) in its specialist space education centre, with Adelaide University also opening its Exterres Laboratory (inset right), with off-Earth surface testing. Also part of Australian Rover Challenge, the university hosted an International competition of rover prototypes (main Image).
Images courtesy University of Adelaide and Australian Space Agency.
Australia’s challenge to build the lunar rover for NASA Moon expeditions from 2026 was highlighted in Adelaide in 2024. A rover prototype – named Roover by public vote – was unveiled in Adelaide at Hamilton Secondary College where its students in astronaut gear watched the robot traverse a rocky simulated crater at the school’s specialist space education centre.
Also in Adelaide as part of the challenge, students from India, Bangladesh and Poland were among those competing in an international space rover competition hosted by Adelaide University and the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources. Coinciding with the competition, Adelaide University launched its Exterres Laboratory, the first of its kind in Australia and an off-Earth surface-testing environment for space technology like rovers.
The rover prototype unveiled at Hamilton Secondary College was designed to collect oxygen and metals from the Moon. The rover would extract resources to help astronauts breathe on the Moon and create rocket fuel to travel back to Earth or through the solar system. The prototype was created over nine months by the ELO2 consortium and funded by the Australian Space Agency, based in Adelaide.
Hamilton Secondary College’s assistant principal Dr Sarah Baker said the school was proud that its space academy programme was linked to the rover challenge and that “Australia is involved in an international program. We're working with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States of America) to send a rover to the Moon. It's amazing."
For the second Australian Rover Challenge at Adelaide University, the Maths Lawns on the North Terrace campus were transformed into a lunar landscape, with sandy loam, rocks, craters, a life-sized space lander, solar panel arrays and other space props. Fourteen teams took part in the challenge, up from three that competed in the inaugural 2021 competition. The competition also was part of Australia’s $150 million commitment to NASA’s Moon to Mars initiative, as the NASA Artemis Program planned to return to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
A founder of the competition and director of the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, John Culton, said he had been told by international competitors that the event was “the most technically challenging competition in the world. We have really put a lot of thought into trying to emulate the kinds of missions that you’re going to see going to the lunar surface in the next couple of years.” The Wroclaw University of Science and Technology from Poland won first place in the 2024 competition, with Monash University second and Queensland University third. Adelaide University’s ARC team achieved fifth place.
