Australia’s First Lunar Robot, the “Roo-ver,” Takes Off Into Space
Photo credit (Pixeles)
Get to know the little buggie that will take Australia by storm.
As the first Lunar rover ever launched by the wealthy nation, the “Roo-ver” represents Australia’s first significant contribution to robotic space exploration.
The “Roo-ver,” Australia’s first lunar rover, was provided by the Australian Space Agency.
The Australian government has hired a group of 21 private companies, academic institutions, and small startups to develop, test, and construct Roo-ver. Additionally, 8,000 suggestions were made for the future robot’s name.
As the nation of colonisers, criminals, and prospectors now lends its pickaxe to creating a permanent human presence on the Moon, it honours the nation’s famous animal.
NASA has agreed to send the robot to the moon, and the Australian government has contributed AUD$42 million to the project.
The main goal of Roo-ver’s mission will be to gather samples of regolith, the ashy mixture of rock and dust that makes up Lunar soil. The goal is to examine the regolith for indications of oxygen or water, which are essential for life.
Nearly all space-capable and space-faring nations have indicated their intention to establish a semi-permanent human presence on the Moon through the Artemis Accords and the International Lunar Research Station project (ILRS). However, this will necessitate the in-situ material harvesting of at least water, if not air.
Warwick Penrose, a member of the ELO2 consortium, which is working to develop the Roover, was forthright about the goals of the consortium and mankind in general, as well as the aspirations of Australians in this undertaking.
He declared, “We must construct a moon base if we are to reach Mars and place humans there.” “We must make an effort to bring life to the moon. Building a rocket that can go from the Moon to Mars is the only way we can reach the planet.
Launching a rocket from the Moon would eliminate the need to consume a significant amount of the ship’s fuel to escape the atmosphere, which has an impact on estimates for weight, size, shape, and supply.
India became the fourth country to land on the moon as part of a mission to study its south pole.
Later this decade, hopefully, Roo-ver will make his major leap into the last frontier.
Australian Space Industry CEO Enrico Palermo told ABC News AU, “This really deepens Australia’s ability to showcase what we lead the world in, and that is remote operations.”
