Humanity is moving into the Artemis generation, and like the Apollo generation before it, we’re likely to see technology improve leaps and bounds as scientists innovate and iterate to create the technology we need to live and work on the moon and beyond.
The Australian Space Agency has placed itself at the heart of this, working closely with NASA on its Moon to Mass mission. Based on Australia’s world-leading remote operations capability as part of its mining and resources sector, an agreement was made with NASA for an Australian-designed, built and operated rover to be sent to the Moon as early as 2026.
The Australian rover will collect lunar soil – known as regolith – and take it to a NASA plant which will attempt to extract oxygen. That is going to be central to going onto Mars - if we can extract Oxygen on the Moon that can be used to set up a sustainable base on the Moon for further exploration. This capability, leveraged by robotics technology, has huge potential for the future of space exploration.
