Roo-ver Thermal Control Unit

Roo-ver is Australia’s first lunar rover, developed as part of NASA’s Artemis Moon exploration program. The program, led by the Australian Space Agency, is being delivered by the ELO2 consortium which brings together numerous Australian companies and research groups to deliver and operate the rover. Roo-ver will work in conjunction with an integrated NASA payload to collect data about the lunar surface and further lunar exploration efforts. Roo-ver will be transported to the moon via NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative around 2029. The project is a major driver of Australia’s growing space industry.

At the Melbourne Space Laboratory, I am responsible for the development of the thermal control unit (TCU) of Roo-ver. The Lunar environment can vary by over 250 celcius per day due to the moon’s lack of atmosphere, so keeping the internal systems of the rover at a safe operating temperature is paramount to mission success. As such, the TCU must be robust (particularly to radiation, which is 200 times stronger on the Moon compared to Earth) and precise in its temperature measurement and power delivery.

Working on Roo-ver has pushed me to develop a deeper understanding of the unique engineering challenges posed by space environments. Having your hardware be crucial to the success of a $50 million dollar mission drives you towards a deep appreciation for systems engineering practices and fault-tolerant design. I’m very proud of my contributions to the project, and can’t wait to see it in action at the end of the decade.