G’Day Moon:
Australia’s boldest adventure yet
G’Day Moon is Australia’s first mission to the Moon. Partnering with NASA, we will fly an Australian-made, semi-autonomous rover to the Moon. This is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon, as well supporting future missions to Mars.
Credit: Australian Space Agency
Credit: Australian Space Agency
Moon to
Mars
Initiative:
Trailblazer
Program
On 13 October 2021, the Australian Space Agency reached an agreement with NASA for an Australian-made, semi-autonomous rover to be part of a future mission to the Moon. The mission will demonstrate Australia‘s world leading skills and experience in remote operations and autonomous systems. This draws on our expertise from the resources and mining sectors.
The Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars initiative is a $150 million investment over five years to drive the growth of Australia’s space sector. The Trailblazer program is the flagship element of the Moon to Mars initiative.
The Trailblazer program will see up to $50 million made available to grantees, Australian businesses and researchers, to develop and build a small rover. The rover will head to the Moon with NASA as early as 2026.
The semi-autonomous rover will collect lunar soil and deliver it to NASA equipment which will attempt to extract oxygen. This is a key step towards establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. It will also support future missions to Mars. Announced on 20 March 2023, Stage 1 of the Trailblazer program will see ELO2 and another consortium receive $4 million each to develop a rover to go through to Preliminary Design Review. Based on that review a single consortium will further develop their rover through to launch and operation on the Moon. This national mission sits alongside other commercial efforts from Australian organisations to develop and send technology to the Moon. This is a sign of the growing depth of the Australian space sector.