Frequently Asked Questions

The Adelaide Rover Team was founded by students competing on behalf of the University of Adelaide (now known as Adelaide University), following the inaugural Australian Rover Challenge in 2021. Its founding represents an official commitment by the team to further the University's space research and development capabilites, and by extension contribute to the international effort to return to the Moon.

The Team was co-founded by two students at the University, Henry Mellor and Lachlan Holden. Both students led the development of the University's first entry into the Australian Rover Challenge, with support from the University's Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR).

The Team was founded on two key principles:

• Design, build and compete in the Australian Rover Challenge, and beyond.

• Provide relevant, practical engineering and project management experience for students at Adelaide University.

Our team has won several awards at the Australian Rover Challenge, including 'best new team' and 'best team spirit'. In the overall standings each year, our team is continuously breaking it's own records, beating our overall score every year at the Australian Rover Challenge. The team also has a number of additional achievements related to ARCh, including:

• The first team to utilise individually steerable wheels for enhanced mobility.

• The largest robotic arm, excavation tool and resource processing unit.

The team also engages in several outreach events to promote the team and STEMM to people of all ages. We also compete in other competitions and are a key parnter in international lunar research.

This year we're looking at incorporating a large variety of features of past cycles to better optimise for the Australian Rover Challenge 2026. Stay tuned as we make further announcements on this!

We are planning to have a lot more community events, bring the rover team together and showcase the perks of members joining such a great community. This relationship building on to our collaboratives, like the Adelaide University Space Society (AUSS).

We plan to build a fully-functional rover, capable of performing on all tasks in hopes of securing a spot in top 3-5 in the Australian Rover Challenge in the coming 3 years, engage more members in the Australian Rover Challenge, and organise more social events for the Team.

With the Artemis program focused on establishing a sustained lunar presence, the Moon is currently a priority destination for exploration. The Earth-to-Moon mission profile takes advantage of comparatively short travel times to serve as a logistical support outpost for future missions to Mars.

The Moon provides critical resources required for future deep-space exploration such as water to use for survival and rocket fuel. Developing a permanent lunar outpost underpins both NASA’s and the Australian Space Agency’s strategic focus on literally fuelling longer-term missions. As our primary supporting research institution, the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR) at Adelaide University is invested in the development lunar technologies, aligning Australia’s local research with international priorities.

The Moon presents unique challenges. With its lack of atmosphere, abrasive regolith, and long day-night cycles, the lunar environment presents opportunities to develop and advance burgeoning rover technologies.