Australia's first-ever lunar rover will shoot for the moon as mankind tries to take one giant leap towards a human presence on Mars.
Weighing in at about 20kg and hardly bigger than a piece of check-in luggage, Roo-ver will go boldly go where no Australian space object has gone before after its first NASA mission was confirmed.
It is scheduled for lift-off at the end of the decade to study the Moon's surface as scientists continue to push through the final frontier.
"Establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and Mars is a key focus of the international space community over the coming decades," Australian Space Agency head Enrico Palermo said.
"The work we're doing with Roo-ver centres Australia in that foundational work."
It will be launched by NASA as part of a future Artemis mission, which aims to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, technological advancement and to potentially find ways to live and work on other worlds as the agency prepares to send humans to Mars.
"This is also another chapter in our long and valued partnership with NASA in space – a partnership as important today and for our future as it was when it first began almost 70 years ago," Mr Palermo said.
Roo-ver, which was named by the Australian public through a competition that received more than 8000 entries, is expected to operate for up to 14 Earth days - barely half a day's work on the Moon.
It was designed, built and operated by the ELO2 consortium, made up of about 20 Australian organisations including space start-ups, universities and businesses, in partnership with the Australian Space Agency.
"This is one of the most specialised robotics and advanced manufacturing projects in the country," Science Minister Tim Ayres said.
The federal government is spending $42 million for Roo-ver's development, design, build and operation.
