Australia joins Moon race, will launch a rover on NASA's Artemis mission in 2026

Australia has officially entered the race to the Moon and is aiming to launch a lunar rover in 2026. In an official announcement, the Australian Space Agency said that it has partnered with NASA to design and build a rover as part of the Trailblazer program. 

"Drawing on Australia’s world-leading remote operations expertise, the rover will collect lunar soil, known as regolith. NASA will attempt to extract oxygen from the sample. This is a key step towards a sustainable human presence on the Moon," the agency said in a statement on September 5. This rover will be sent to the Moon in NASA's Artemis mission which will soon see astronauts, including the first person of colour, walk on the lunar surface. 

The Australian agency is now inviting individuals and schools across the country to name the rover. It has even launched a competition for the same and four of the candidate names will be put to a public vote to decide a winner in December this year. 

Meanwhile, NASA is developing the Artemis Program to build sustainable lunar bases and use the Moon as a pitstop for missions to Mars in the future. The Artemis Program began with Artemis 1 which launched on November 16, 2022, and it will be followed by Artemis 2 which is targeted for launch with four astronauts in 2024. The four astronauts announced in April this year will embark on a 10-day lunar trip and return without landing. Artemis 2 is meant to test the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft with humans onboard.  

If NASA sticks to the schedule, the actual landing will take place in 2025 or 2026 and we will see a woman and a person of colour step foot on the lunar surface for the first time. The US agency has partnered with a number of space companies for Artemis including SpaceX for its Starship rocket, Blue Origin for an alternative launch vehicle, Venturi Astrolab and Astrobotic for their rovers.