{"id":919513,"date":"2026-10-07T15:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919513\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:04:14","slug":"roo-ver-australia-unveils-its-first-moon-rover-ahead-of-2030-space-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919513\/","title":{"rendered":"Roo-ver: Australia unveils its first moon rover ahead of 2030 space mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> university on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Roo-ver, as it\u2019s being <\/a>called<\/a>, is the latest model of Australia\u2019s first lunar rover and is counting down until its big mission in 2030.<\/p>\n

\"Australia<\/p>\n

Australia has unveiled its first moon rover prototype, called Roo-ver, at the Queensland University of Technology.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that Australia has designed, built, and will test and then operate a lunar rover, a spacecraft, on another celestial body,\u201d Roo-ver director Ben Sorensen told 9News.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the tiny 20-kilogram robot is learning how to navigate harsh environments before heading into space.<\/p>\n

The prototypes are crucial to ensure it survives just half a lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe temperatures range from, -200 degrees Celsius up to over 150 degrees, and the rover needs to be able to operate seamlessly every time,\u201d Roo-ver technical director Katie Doyle told 9News.<\/p>\n

\"Australia<\/p>\n

Engineers have been putting Roo-ver through its paces, in simulated lunar landscapes.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s terrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of as close as we can get it while keeping it something safe to be around,\u201d QUT Professor Thierry Peynot told 9News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real thing is very abrasive and quite dangerous and super fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be one more test model before the real robot is ready to go and hitch a ride with NASA to the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n

\"Australia<\/p>\n

There will be one more test model before the real robot is ready to go and hitch a ride with NASA to the moon\u2019s South Pole.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ll be looking to do is analyse and understand the surface of the moon, the soil,\u201d Australian Space Agency director of communications and public outreach Keegan Buzza told 9News.<\/p>\n

It will hopefully lead to understanding the earth a little better too.<\/p>\n

“The moon is essentially an analogue of what the Earth was like billions of years ago,” Buzza said.<\/p>\n

“So this will help us with things like drought, food security.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny robot will be the first in the country to make the enormous journey to the moon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,128],"class_list":["post-919513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}