The Space Show

2023.03.22 | Trailblazer Awarded: Two Australian consortia to develop rovers for the nation’s first Moon mission

Listen Later

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 March 2023:

Space Show News

Trailblazer Program Awarded:

  • Australia is closer to embarking on its first mission to the Moon in partnership with NASA. The Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium and the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium, will each receive $4 million to design early-stage prototypes of a semi-autonomous rover, as part of stage one of the Trailblazer program mission to the Moon.

    • Launch of the National Indigenous Space Academy:

    • Indigenous Australian university students will be given an opportunity to allow their careers to take off with a new internship program supported by the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA) will see up to five students studying in STEM fields travel to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) in California for a 10-week full-time summer internship program.

      • A panel discussion on Moon mining and robotics at the Moon Village Association meeting, Deakin Edge at Federation Square in March 2019, featuring:

      • Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow, Geo-environmental Studies, University of Queensland
      • Carlos Espejel, iSpace, Luxembourg
      • Bohan Deng, CEO Spherospace, Sydney
      • Daniel Ricardo & Henry Lourey, Nova Rover Team, Monash University

        • Key highlights of the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference - LPSC 2023 reporting on NASA's budget decisions, the status of planetary missions, and a vigorous discussion on matters arising, with:

        • Sandra Connelly, Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ
        • Lori Glaze, Director, Planetary Science Division, NASA HQ
        • Sue Smrekar, Principal Investigator, VERITAS, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
        • and others...

          • Planet Earth: Season 4 - Episode 47

          • The Surface Water Ocean Topography or SWOT satellite.
            • ...more
            View all episodesView all episodes
            Download on the App Store
            The Space ShowBy Andrew Rennie for the Space Association of Australia