Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
Speaker 1: now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the nineteenth of December. I'm emma, I'm Zara. Australia is
Speaker 2: heading to the Moon. But if you're thinking of astronauts.
Speaker 1: In space suits, think again.
Speaker 2: After an eighteen month design process, the Australian Space Agency
Speaker 2: has unveiled the prototype for the country's first lunar rover,
Speaker 2: or RUVERA, as it's been nicknamed by the Australian public.
Speaker 3: I don't think we should be trusting the Australian public
Speaker 3: with any naming at this rate.
Speaker 1: I thought we had low.
Speaker 3: We let ourselves down time and time again. But this
Speaker 3: robot RUVERA is completing a very real mission, and that
Speaker 3: is to the surface of the Moon on a NASA
Speaker 3: mission later this decade. The federal government has announced forty
Speaker 3: two million dollars to fund the construction of the rover,
Speaker 3: and it'll be developed by a group of companies and
Speaker 3: universities selected by the Australian Space Agency.
Speaker 2: Experts want to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon.
Speaker 1: So what does that mean and why?
Speaker 2: To understand more, I reached out to someone who is
Speaker 2: much more qualified than I am to talk about space exploration,
Speaker 2: mechanical engineer Chloe Chang. Despite literally just graduating from monash Uni,
Speaker 2: where she led a rover program, Chloe has been working
Speaker 2: with Lunar Outpost Oceania. They are the technical lead of
Speaker 2: the ELO two consortium. That's that group selected by the
Speaker 2: Space Agency to develop this rover and she joins US now.
Speaker 1: Chloe Chang, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: We are so excited to be talking to you today
Speaker 2: about this announcement, but I wanted to take it back
Speaker 2: to basics. First of all, why is Australia sending a
Speaker 2: rover to the Moon?
Speaker 4: Very good question. Australia is sending a over to the
Speaker 4: Moon as part of NASA's Artemis program to support humanity's
Speaker 4: return to the lunar surface. The robo will contribute to
Speaker 4: the international efforts to explore the Moon, extracting resources like
Speaker 4: regulars and see if there's water, there's oxygen in there,
Speaker 4: and this will be essentral for future missions and also
Speaker 4: sustaining a human presence on the Moon.
Speaker 2: You've mentioned a return to the Moon obviously, you know
Speaker 2: back in the Apollo missions several decades ago. The Moon
Speaker 2: was a huge focus when it came to space exploration.
Speaker 2: But why has it returned to focus.
Speaker 4: It's returned to focus because I think there's a lot
Speaker 4: long term that we can gain from space. Space has
Speaker 4: infinite resources and power and is estimated to be a
Speaker 4: one point eight trillion industry in the future. So it's
Speaker 4: really important that Australia cements their space in the space
Speaker 4: industry and be a part of that global market.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the prototype unveiled this week, RuvA.
Speaker 1: What can you tell me about it?
Speaker 2: What is it and what will this piece of robotics
Speaker 2: I guess actually be able to do. Hi. Sorry, I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna pop in here because Chloe mentions this word
Speaker 2: regolith a few times coming up, and I was too
Speaker 2: embarrassed to ask her what it means. So in case
Speaker 2: you also don't know what it means, I just wanted
Speaker 2: to let you know.
Speaker 1: Regolith it's basically moon soil.
Speaker 2: It's a term used to describe the loose rocks, dust,
Speaker 2: other materials found on the lunar surface.
Speaker 1: Back to the interview.
Speaker 4: So this is a small microwave sized rover. It's about
Speaker 4: twenty kilograms. It can traverse uneven terrain about one hundred
Speaker 4: meters a day, and it's looking for interesting samples, collecting
Speaker 4: lunar regoliths, looking for water, looking for oxygen. So that's
Speaker 4: basically the basics of the mission. But our consortium elo
Speaker 4: TO this year has developed four prototypes which have been
Speaker 4: designed to test critical design aspects.
Speaker 2: So I imagine the challenge is developing something that brings
Speaker 2: all of those elements together. Because, of course, this rover
Speaker 2: not only has to get to the Moon, which I
Speaker 2: imagine is a mission in and of itself, but once
Speaker 2: it's there, gather that information and then bring it home.
Speaker 4: It's not coming home. It's staying on the Moon forever, forever. Well,
Speaker 4: it probably will be recycled for maybe a later mission,
Speaker 4: but it is going to the surface and it will
Speaker 4: stay there.
Speaker 2: Wow, a permanent rover on the Moon. So what are
Speaker 2: the findings from this rover going to be used for?
Speaker 1: How long will it take?
Speaker 2: Sort Of, once we get the rover on the lunar
Speaker 2: surface it starts doing its thing, when can we expect
Speaker 2: some discoveries?
Speaker 4: Tricky question. We don't know a lot about the Moon
Speaker 4: as it is. We have the Lunar Conaissance orbit are
Speaker 4: that NASA put up and that's our source of truth
Speaker 4: and our most up to date data of the Moon,
Speaker 4: but actual knowledge of the composition of the soil, especially
Speaker 4: the poles. So this rover's going to the south pole.
Speaker 4: There's not a lot of information around that, and they're
Speaker 4: suspected to be water in the poles of the Moon,
Speaker 4: which would be very important to sustaining a human presence
Speaker 4: on the Moon and sustaining astronauts up there, so that
Speaker 4: we're not bringing our own water on our and oxygen
Speaker 4: to the Moon. So in terms of what we will discover,
Speaker 4: I guess you know that the whole point of this
Speaker 4: mission is to send a rover up there, have a
Speaker 4: look around and see what we can find.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really interested in this idea of establishing a
Speaker 2: human presence on the Moon. We've heard from the Space
Speaker 2: Agency this week that that is a major focus of
Speaker 2: the international space community over the coming decades. But what
Speaker 2: does that actually mean. What would a presence, a sustainable
Speaker 2: human presence on the Moon look like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a sustainable human presence on the Moon involves establishing habitats.
Speaker 4: Maybe they're made out of the lunar regolith itself. Maybe
Speaker 4: we have robotic you know, huge robotic infrastructure, huge like
Speaker 4: civil three D printers that take regulith and create our
Speaker 4: own lunar bricks, because lunar regolith is able to shield
Speaker 4: radiation and the thermal environment. So that's kind of one example.
Speaker 4: But also, you know, infrastructure that allows astronauts to live
Speaker 4: and work and carry out their scientific experience for extended
Speaker 4: periods of time without constant resupply from Earth. So just
Speaker 4: making sure we have good power systems, good communication networks,
Speaker 4: life support systems, and of course food, water and oxygen.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about a presence for scientific discovery purposes,
Speaker 2: not necessarily an ambition to kind of establish human colonies
Speaker 2: as an alternative to life on Earth.
Speaker 4: I think the world wants to definitely head in that
Speaker 4: direction of having a colony on the Moon, having a
Speaker 4: colony on Mars. But in the coming decades, I think
Speaker 4: it is purely research, understanding more about the environment, creating
Speaker 4: a base on the Moon to then hop to Mars,
Speaker 4: if that makes sense. It's about creating those highways to space,
Speaker 4: to the Moon and then to Mars. I think in
Speaker 4: the next few decades.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with more of today's deep dive right
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 2: We have obviously heard a lot about Mars more recently
Speaker 2: than we've seen conversation about the Moon. I suppose you know,
Speaker 2: Mars rovers constant conversations around you know, is their life
Speaker 2: on Mars?
Speaker 1: Could we be all headed for Mars one day soon?
Speaker 2: Why is it important also to investigate lunar exploration to support.
Speaker 4: That Mars is really really far away? So being able
Speaker 4: to get to the Moon, refeel, restock, and then head
Speaker 4: over to Mars is one of those are key reasons.
Speaker 4: And I think as well, the Moon is much closer.
Speaker 4: You know, we're able to explore how technologies work, how
Speaker 4: humans live in space on the Moon, which will be
Speaker 4: relevant environments to Mars, not exact. So I guess it's
Speaker 4: just a step closer to being able to create a
Speaker 4: presence on Mars.
Speaker 1: Why send a rover?
Speaker 2: Obviously, space exploration in the twentieth century looked like men
Speaker 2: in white suits going up into space.
Speaker 1: Now it looks very different.
Speaker 2: Have we moved away from human exploration in space?
Speaker 4: I think we haven't moved away from human exploration. I think,
Speaker 4: in fact, we're really coming back to that. You know,
Speaker 4: NASA announcing therefore astronauts to return to the Moon as
Speaker 4: part of the Artemis missions, which we're supporting. But why
Speaker 4: send a rover first is because it's a lot safer,
Speaker 4: a lot more cost effective, a lot more technically feasible.
Speaker 4: You know, with a rover, you don't have to feed it,
Speaker 4: you don't have to give it water, you don't need
Speaker 4: to make sure it's inside a environment that has, you know,
Speaker 4: the right pressure and the right oxygen. It also can
Speaker 4: survive in much more extreme temperatures. You know, I don't
Speaker 4: know about you, but I definitely wouldn't want to be
Speaker 4: in negative one hundred degrees or one hundred degree heat.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's much safer, and we're able to achieve
Speaker 4: the mission objectives with just a robot. So if we
Speaker 4: can do what we need with just robotics, then it's
Speaker 4: not risking human lives.
Speaker 2: From the kind of construction and development side of things
Speaker 2: with getting this project off the ground. How do you
Speaker 2: test a rover in those conditions?
Speaker 1: How do you.
Speaker 2: Mimic an environment that is so desolate, a hostile that
Speaker 2: doesn't really exist here on Earth to ensure that it's
Speaker 2: going to safely make that journey and get there in
Speaker 2: one piece and do its job.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's a very rigorous systems engineering approach. So,
Speaker 4: you know, one of the concerns is thermal environment gets
Speaker 4: very hot and it gets very cold. Another concern is vacuum.
Speaker 4: We are limited to certain materials that we can use
Speaker 4: so that the rover doesn't outgas. We obviously are very
Speaker 4: concerned about you know, going off in our rocket, the
Speaker 4: shock and the vibrations that all experience, so it has
Speaker 4: to be structurally sound. Of course, it needs to also
Speaker 4: be considered from a radiation perspective, making sure we're shielding
Speaker 4: it correctly and our electronics can work the way it's intended.
Speaker 4: So yeah, there are a lot of aspects to the
Speaker 4: environmental considerations that we test, and I think we you know,
Speaker 4: start off with subsystem level testing and we'll test them
Speaker 4: in sort of those unique environments that I mentioned, and
Speaker 4: then we'll start you know combining like maybe we do
Speaker 4: thermal and shock gun vibe at the same time.
Speaker 2: And what's the timeline for the rover's first mission? When
Speaker 2: are the experts with the consortium hoping to get this
Speaker 2: up and running later.
Speaker 4: This decade, But still I guess unconfus sorry, I cannot
Speaker 4: say space secrets.
Speaker 2: Is it surprising to you that this is the first
Speaker 2: time Australia will send a lunar rover into space.
Speaker 4: I never really thought that Australia would be a part
Speaker 4: of something as historic as this, so it's definitely new
Speaker 4: and very exciting, and I think when I did first
Speaker 4: hear about it, it was a shock. But now it's
Speaker 4: it's you know, I've been working on this for a
Speaker 4: year and a half. It's my it's my every day.
Speaker 4: But you know, this project allows Australia to showcase it's
Speaker 4: engineering and technical innovation on an international stage and I'm
Speaker 4: so honored to be a part of that.
Speaker 2: Well, Chloe, you are recently graduated from university yourself. You
Speaker 2: are incredibly young and successful in your field. I'd love
Speaker 2: to know a little bit more about what your day
Speaker 2: to day involvement looks like with the project.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I actually just graduated a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 4: so I'm very excited to work full time on this.
Speaker 4: But my day to day changes, you know, day to
Speaker 4: day because every day is a new challenge. It's always uh,
Speaker 4: you know, how do we do this? We brainstorm, we
Speaker 4: talk about risk, then we build, design, prototype, test, and
Speaker 4: sort of validate and inform our next design. And there
Speaker 4: are lots of different parts of the rover and lots
Speaker 4: of different aspects of the mission that are beyond technical,
Speaker 4: like operational. As I mentioned, sometimes you can design something
Speaker 4: super well, but if it's not designed to be used
Speaker 4: by humans or to complete the objectives of the mission,
Speaker 4: you know, can dramatically affect your success. So yeah, I
Speaker 4: would say it's very exhilarating. Definitely been challenged, learned a lot,
Speaker 4: and increase my technical skills. So yeah, it's been it's
Speaker 4: been a blast.
Speaker 2: What are you most excited for about this whole project?
Speaker 2: Considering you know, the ruver as we're calling it, from
Speaker 2: start to finish, what are your big hopes for this one?
Speaker 4: I think being in the mission control center and watching
Speaker 4: it land on the Moon safely and drive across the surface,
Speaker 4: I think we'd just break my mind. It's just a
Speaker 4: culmination of a lot of people's hard work and a
Speaker 4: lot of years, and we've got a lot of work
Speaker 4: ahead of us. But I think that's what I'm most
Speaker 4: excited for, and it will be an incredible moment of
Speaker 4: pride for this nation. Yeah, and I also just want
Speaker 4: to say, like, this isn't a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Speaker 4: It's a once in a century moment. And I hope
Speaker 4: that it won't be a once in a century moment
Speaker 4: to be able to explore space, and that the generations
Speaker 4: that come before us will be more involved. And I
Speaker 4: think you know, to talk to younger viewers if they're listening.
Speaker 4: You know, it's likely that the first person on Mars
Speaker 4: is currently sitting in a classroom somewhere in the world.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: And the first person on Mas is most likely a woman.
Speaker 4: So you know, you you have the opportunity to further
Speaker 4: human explorations. So now is the time we have this
Speaker 4: mission and we're standing on the cost of something really extraordinary.
Speaker 2: Maybe the first person on Mars, he's a woman, and
Speaker 2: maybe her name is Chloe Jank Chloe, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for your time today. That was really, really fascinating.
Speaker 2: We so appreciate you breaking it down for us, and
Speaker 2: hopefully I'll chat to you in a few years time
Speaker 2: from that mission control room.
Speaker 4: Let's go, but so lovely to meet you m on.
Speaker 4: Have a lovely day.
Speaker 3: That's all we've got time for on today's podcast. Thank
Speaker 3: you for joining us for that exploration of outer space.
Speaker 3: We'll be back again this afternoon with the headlines you
Speaker 3: need to know, but until then, have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Adunda
Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcoton woman from Gadigol Country.
Speaker 3: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
Speaker 3: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respec to
Speaker 3: all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations.
Speaker 4: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 4: both past and present.