The Australian Space Agency plans to launch a rover to the Moon with NASA’s Artemis program as early as 2026.
Only four nations have operated a rover on the Moon in history–the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and most recently, India. Japan is attempting to join that group with a launch on September 7 and now, the Australian Space Agency is working on a rover that will go to the moon as early as 2026 as part of the Artemis program.
“The Australian Space Agency, in partnership with NASA, is working with Australia’s space industry to design and build an Australian-made rover. It’s part of the Trailblazer program under the Moon to Mars initiative,” said a statement from the Australian government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources released on Tuesday. The rover will be designed to collect samples of lunar regolith, or lunar soil, and NASA will try to extract oxygen from the sample.
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The rover does not have a name, and Australia’s space agency is working on one. Interestingly, you can choose a name by entering a competition to name the rover if you are an Australian citizen, that is. The naming competition will run until October 20, and citizens can contribute names until then. The space agency will then select four favourites from the user-generated names and submit them to a public vote. Then, they will announce the winning name in early December.
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The Australian space agency’s plans to better identify the types of water on the lunar surface works well with NASA’s plans to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. If astronauts are to stay on the lunar surface, they will need access to both water and oxygen. In the long term, it will be expensive and impractical to carry those and other important resources to the Moon on rockets. This is why finding and possibly even extracting oxygen on the Moon could prove crucial.
If we were to establish such a human presence on the Moon, it could serve as a springboard for further exploration of the solar system, starting with Mars. Since the gravity of the Moon is one-sixth that of the Earth, space rocket launches from the Moon will be much easier, requiring much less fuel, compared to those from our planet.
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First published on: 06-09-2023 at 15:42 IST
