The Australian Space Agency (ASA) is seeking information from industry and academia on their niche technology capabilities that could support global efforts to send humans to Mars. The ASA is coordinating Australia’s participation in the Moon to Mars initiative, a US-led program that aims to establish sustainable exploration on the lunar surface and prepare for the historic mission to the Red Planet.
As part of the initiative, two Australian consortiums are developing prototypes of a locally designed rover, or ‘Roo-ver’, that could collect and transport lunar soil samples to a NASA payload. The ASA also awarded about $40 million in grants last year to support demonstrator projects that showcase Australian space technology, such as lunar seismic stations and landing sensors.
The ASA’s expression of interest, launched on Monday, also covers potential contributions to the Moon to Mars Architecture – the components required for long-term, human-led scientific discovery in deep space – as well as the broader Artemis program and other international space exploration and robotics programs.
The ASA is looking for input from organizations with expertise in areas such as but not limited to mining equipment, technology and services (METS), robotics, artificial intelligence, quantum sensing, automation, edge computing and remote operations.
Organizations are asked to provide their technology readiness level, their flight heritage status – evidence that their technology works in space – and their current involvement in space projects.
