Ready for Lunar Life
In blinding artificial sunlight and dust, an Adelaide University researcher in a spacesuit steps out onto a simulated lunar surface to deploy an experiment ultimately destined for NASA’s Artemis IV mission.
The significance is not lost on Kato Claeys, as she expertly positions the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer and runs through an exhaustive timed checklist for the project – one of many the University is advancing in space research.
As the Artemis program prepares to return humans to the Moon, Adelaide University has become a nexus of research innovation and a rehearsal space for humankind’s next giant leap. Within the next few years, there will be at least seven lunar missions with meaningful contributions from Adelaide University.
“We’re not just simulating space – we’re rehearsing it, at human scale, before we even leave Earth,’’ explains Associate Professor John Culton, director of the University’s Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR).
“We have a stellar team doing world‑class research that NASA notices.”
This research excellence was reflected in the Astronautical Demonstration of an Analogue Mission in Australia (ADAMA), a two-week global mission simulation in October 2025. Part of the World’s Biggest Analog, run simultaneously across 25 nations on five continents, it was the only one of its kind in Australia.
It led Belgian national Claeys, a veteran of more than a dozen international analogue astronaut missions, to Adelaide University first as ADAMA Commander, and eventually to stay on as a researcher.
ADAMA brought together interstellar, medical, and agricultural research to test sustainable life support systems, next-generation analogue spacesuits, and operations designed to inform real-world astronaut training.
The crew members were also assessed to better understand how astronauts cope with challenges in space.
Researchers from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the National Imaging Facility studied isolation and confinement, sensory deprivation, and long latencies for communication, using advanced MRI scans to study how isolation and operational stress affected brain function and connectivity.
Professor Anna Ma‑Wyatt, Director of astronaut-autonomy teaming at the Andy Thomas Centre, explains: “ADAMA contributed to our understanding of how the novel physical environment of space affects astronauts' mental and cognitive wellbeing and how we can mitigate the risks associated with long-term space exploration.”
The mission also involved ARC Centre of Excellence ‘Plants for Space’, which develops novel plant-based food and life support systems to enable sustainable human habitation and plant consumption beyond Earth.
ADAMA exemplifies Adelaide University’s multidisciplinary space research, which also includes human reproduction in space, crew psychology, space architecture, space law, education and workforce development.
Adelaide University partnered with international start-up ICEE.Space to host ADAMA inside the CRATER Lab, part of the institution’s 4,000m2 off-Earth Analogue Facility, and the Exterres (Extraterrestrial Environmental Simulation) facility. Both facilities are purpose-built to replicate lunar surface conditions and test how people and machines perform under lunar constraints.
One such constraint, gravity, changes everything from gait and stability to wheel slip and how tools feel in the hand. In tandem with CRATER’s regolith terrain, a new gravity offload system offsets a test subject’s weight so researchers can observe how human and robotic systems perform.
“Simulation versus rehearsal comes down to scale and authenticity,’’ Associate Professor Culton says.
“Most space labs are operated within clean rooms. CRATER is the opposite; it’s dusty, shadowy then blindingly bright – perfect for stress‑testing AI, machine vision and mobility systems.’’
Both CRATER and Exterres will also host Australia’s first lunar rover. Known as ‘Roo-ver’ in a nod to Australia’s national animal, this semi-autonomous rover will collect and characterise lunar soil.
Adelaide University is a partner in the ELO2 consortium, made up of 21 organisations selected to build and operate the Roo-ver in Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Trailblazer Program. The program is backed with $42 million in funding from the Australian Government, a signatory to the Artemis Accords.
Adelaide University’s contribution to the Roo-ver mission builds on years of autonomous systems research, much of which comes together at the University’s Australian Rover Challenge. Now in its sixth year, the event brings university crews from around the world to Adelaide to run full‑scale simulated lunar missions using semi‑autonomous rovers they designed and built.
In March, students from Australia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Poland converged at Roseworthy for the live-streamed 2026 Challenge. Serendipitously, it coincided with the Artemis II mission – and NASA’s announcement that Roo-ver will land on the Moon’s South Pole in 2030.
Associate Professor Culton believes that as humans tackle the immense challenges of deep space, partnering with robotic companions such as world-class rovers is the best approach.
“When humans and robotics operate together, the scientific output is orders of magnitude greater than operating alone,’’ he says, citing that the Principal Investigator for the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity says most things a rover can do in a day, an astronaut can do in less than a minute.
Even as robots play a growing role, Associate Professor Culton believes people are always at the heart of space exploration.
“We’re one of the only research centres in Australia with an explicit human‑focused space mission,’’ he says. “This matters now because we’re going back to the Moon – and intending to stay.
“When the next humans begin to explore, work, and live on another world, our team will have helped make that possible.’’
“When the next humans begin to explore, work, and live on another world, our team will have helped make that possible.’’
This content was paid for and created by Adelaide University. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.
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