Students making strides in space technology
A UNSW undergrad team has been making waves at international competitions advancing space technologies.
Published on the 11 September 2024
Advancing technologies for off-Earth mining has been the topic of multiple international competitions.
The reason is simple: if we are going to populate the Moon, or Mars, then we need to use the resources that exist there.
Harnessing in-situ resources reduces the need for shipments from Earth, which can be expensive and risky.
A team of UNSW undergraduate students, called UNSW Aussienauts, have been competing in multiple international space competitions and performing pioneering research on lunar geomechanical properties. The goal is to help students develop practical skills and knowledge required to enter and make significant contributions in the international space sector.
Key to the team’s success has been an approach of simplicity and reliability.
"Due to the difficulty in performing maintenance operations on Off-Earth systems, systems need to be reliable but also not overly complicated. Complicated systems have more things that can go wrong and are therefore seen as higher risk,” says Nick Barnett, supervisor of the team and a PhD candidate in Space Mining at UNSW.
Their approach has paid off: the UNSW Aussienauts have achieved significant milestones, including 3rd place in 2022 and 2nd place in 2023 in the Over the Dusty Moon challenge, an international student competition to build a system for moving lunar dirt, or regolith, around the Moon’s surface. In 2023, they secured 1st place in the World Mining Congress' 2023 hackathon to develop a lunar rover.
The Aussienauts competing during the Over the Dusty Moon 2023 challenge in Colorado, USA
Most recently, they are part of a team that has been named one of 10 finalists in the UK Aqualunar Challenge, focused on finding ways to purify water found under the Moon's surface.
“The success of the team also shows that there are opportunities available to succeed on an international scale in the space sector. I hope that we can inspire and encourage more people to consider employment opportunities in the space sector. Increased visibility and success of Australians in the sector will hopefully lead to further commercial investment into Australia, generating further growth,” says Barnett.
“The global space sector is going to be worth $1 trillion US dollar per annum by 2040. It is a huge growing sector that we need to get people involved in.”
“At the moment, the Australian space industry is quite immature in its form. By having this team together and doing these competitions, we are really putting Australia on the map and promoting our capabilities in the field.”
“To me, the coolest part is that we are in a space where there is no solution for a problem yet. Everything that we come up with, every point of data that we generate is novel. It is exciting to be at the bleeding edge of space mining technology,” says Finn Prince, fourth-year Mining Engineering student.
“My main goal is gaining hands-on experience that goes beyond what’s achievable in coursework. It offers a unique opportunity to apply my skills in a real-world setting, where the quality of your work really matters,” says Connor Duigan, third-year UNSW Aerospace Engineering student.
The 2024 Aussienauts team members are Peter Johnson (co-supervisor, former team lead), Justin Fang (team lead), Finn Prince, William Collins, Connor Duigan, Sophie Wu, Jack Xin, and Fabian Sukumar. The team is supervised by Associate Professor Binghao Li, Dr Chengguo Zhang and Nick Barnett.
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