Fugro to lead Australian lunar rover mission consortium

20 March 2023

Fugro space pic — Fugro’s Samuel Forbes and Dawn McIntosh inside SpAARC Australia.

Australian Space Agency selects Fugro-led AROSE consortium for lunar mission.

Australia is set to take a big leap in space exploration with the federal government announcing the selection of the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium for Stage 1 of their Trailblazer mission.

The mission is a collaboration between the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and NASA. Fugro, a key partner within the AROSE consortium, recently opened Australia’s Space Automation, AI, Robotics Command and control centre (SpAARC) in Perth. SpAARC will be the operational heart of the mission.

The landmark Trailblazer mission will see the design, development, testing and operation of a lunar foundation services rover, an important Australian contribution to the international Moon-to-Mars programme. The ASA rover’s mission is to collect lunar soil and deliver it to a NASA processing facility on the moon. This will be the first step to extract oxygen from the moon’s surface, which will be vital in supporting a sustainable human presence on the moon, Mars and beyond.

The SpAARC team will lead the Trailblazer project as well as the design of the rover, payload and lunar mission operations. Stage 1 will be complete in 2024 with the current estimated Stage 2 launch date in 2027.

SpAARC director Sam Forbes expressed enthusiasm about the unique opportunity the mission will bring to Fugro, saying: “Space is not just a highly challenging environment to work in, it is also the proving ground for robotics, automation and harsh environment operations. There are already many technological advancements on earth today that have their origins in space.

“Collaborating with NASA, ASA and AROSE on this incredible mission, will allow us to demonstrate Australia’s and Fugro’s capability to play a significant role in the emerging space sector. It’s a big opportunity to showcase the unique capability developed in SpAARC, with the world-class facility having only been opened in November 2022.”

This project received grant funding from the Australian government through the ASA. The Western Australian government is also supporting Stage 1 activities.