Australia unveils its first moon rover ahead of 2030 space mission

A tiny robot will be the first in the country to make the enormous journey to the moon, with a special new prototype unveiled at a Queensland university on Wednesday.

Roo-ver, as it’s being called, is the latest model of Australia’s first lunar rover and is counting down until its big mission in 2030.

“This is the first time that Australia has designed, built, and will test and then operate a lunar rover, a spacecraft, on another celestial body,” Roo-ver director Ben Sorensen told 9News.

In the meantime, the tiny 20-kilogram robot is learning how to navigate harsh environments before heading into space.

The prototypes are crucial to ensure it survives just half a lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

“The temperatures range from, -200 degrees Celsius up to over 150 degrees, and the rover needs to be able to operate seamlessly every time,” Roo-ver technical director Katie Doyle told 9News.

Engineers have been putting Roo-ver through its paces in simulated lunar landscapes to test whether it can climb rocks, tackle craters and avoid getting bogged in moon-like dust.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT), one of 20 organisations working on the $54 million project, is developing a giant lunar sandpit to imitate the moon’s terrain.

“It’s kind of as close as we can get it while keeping it something safe to be around,” QUT Professor Thierry Peynot told 9News.

“The real thing is very abrasive and quite dangerous and super fine.”

There will be one more test model before the real robot is ready to go and hitch a ride with NASA to the moon’s south pole.

“What we’ll be looking to do is analyse and understand the surface of the moon, the soil,” Australian Space Agency director of communications and public outreach Keegan Buzza told 9News.

It will hopefully lead to understanding the earth a little better too.

"The moon is essentially an analogue of what the Earth was like billions of years ago," Buzza said.

"So this will help us with things like drought, food security."