ELO2 will evaluate 18 teams that will both build and drive their own semi-autonomous rover across a simulated moon surface, which will be complete with obstacles like rocks, ridges and craters.
The competition, now in its fifth year, will take place from Thursday, 27 March to Sunday, 30 March, at the university’s Roseworthy Campus and also include competitors from Poland, India and Kazakhstan.
Associate Professor John Culton, co-founder of the event, said it was an invaluable opportunity for students to build their careers in space.
“The Australian Rover Challenge pushes teams to solve complex engineering and robotics challenges that mirror real-world problems in lunar exploration,” he said.
“It’s one of the most technically demanding student competitions in the world and provides hands-on experience that will be crucial for future careers – whether in space robotics, planetary science or autonomous systems development.”
Each team can only spend up to $35,000 on their device, which must operate wirelessly and autonomously where required, with no tethered power sources.
The rovers must tackle four key challenges: safely disembarking from a lander and accessing nearby equipment, moving and manipulating lunar material, identifying valuable resources hidden within moon dust, and mapping the lunar terrain using only autonomous sensing and navigation.
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Judges include industry experts from ELO2, as well as the Australian Space Agency, Boeing, Caterpillar and Turen.
Jingyi Khoo Pek Eng Qiu, lead of the Adelaide rover team, said the competition had been the highlight of her university career.
“Leading the design, build and testing of a complex robotic system has given me invaluable hands-on experience that goes beyond the classroom,” she said. “It has solidified my passion for space technology, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
“The Australian Rover Challenge has also connected me with incredible teammates who share the same drive for innovation and passion for space. The friendships and collaboration within the team have been just as rewarding as the technical challenges.”
The challenge will be livestreamed on this website.
The chance for students to perform in front of ELO2 comes after the consortium beat rival AROSE in December to be tasked with building Australia’s upcoming lunar rover.
The federal government granted both groups $4 million in 2023 to design an initial prototype for a rover – later named Roo-ver – that will be developed to explore the moon’s surface.
It’s hoped it will be able to collect lunar regolith or moon soil that will eventually be turned into oxygen to support a permanent NASA base.
Regolith can both become oxygen that humans can breathe or aid the production of rocket fuel necessary to support the launch of a rocket from the moon to Mars and beyond.
ELO2 consists of organisations, including universities, SMEs and those in the mining sector. In particular, the University of Adelaide is responsible for the rover’s ongoing testing. Inovor provided the electrical power system and BHP provided expertise in excavation.
2025 Australian Rover Challenge competitors
Adelaide Rover Team University of Adelaide
Monash Nova Rover Monash University
UniMelb Rover Team University of Melbourne
RMIT Rover Team Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Swinburne Rover Team Swinburne University of Technology
QUT Remote Off-World Autonomous Robotics (R.O.A.R.) Queensland University of Technology
UQ Space University of Queensland
UOW Rover Team University of Wollongong
UWA Rover Team University of Western Australia
Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Team University of NSW Canberra
Bluesat University of NSW
Deakin Rover Team Deakin University
UTS Rock-E THE ROVER University of Technology Sydney
Macquarie Aerospace Rover Society (MARS) Macquarie University
Aspan Rover Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan)
AGH Space Systems AGH University of Krakow (Poland)
Legendary Rover Team Rzeszów University of Technology (Poland)
Projekt Scorpio Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Poland)
Rhino Rovers (Demonstration team) Dayananda Sagar Academy of Technology and Management (India)
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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