A group of scripture students from a small Western Sydney public school is waiting anxiously to see if they have won a competition to name a rover that will be part of an upcoming mission to the Moon.
The students, in classes three to six at Mulgoa Public School, population 99, took part in the competition, organised by the Australian Space Agency, to name the Australian-designed-and-built rover that will be part of NASA’s Artemis Mission to the Moon, which is expected to blast off in 2026.
The rover will be used to collect soil from the surface of the moon, from which scientists will attempt to extract oxygen so that humans can live there for extended periods, as well as to create rocket fuel for further space exploration.
The students came up with four names for the rover which they submitted in the competition. The first, Black Swan, is the English translation of the word Mulgoa, which comes from the Indigenous Darug language for the first inhabitants of the area in which the school is located.
The second name they came up with, Narooma, is an Aboriginal word meaning “clear blue water” – a reference to the water that was found on the Moon’s south side by a recent Indian mission.
The third name was Space Possum, a reference to the inquisitive native Australian marsupial, and the fourth was Southern Cross, after the constellation of stars seen in the southern sky.
SRE Catechist at the school, Fiona Clarke, who helped her students come up with the names, said the competition was the culmination of a lot of discussion in their classes about travelling into space.
SRE Catechist Fiona Clarke (left) with her scripture students at Mulgoa Public School. Image: Supplied
As humans explore further and further into space, with trips to Mars and beyond, she said one of the students asked the class if God would still be with those space travellers, given that He made the Earth.
“Another kid, quick as a flash, said ‘don’t forget God created everything, of course He’ll be there’. That floored me,” she said.
Ms Clarke said it was sometimes difficult for adults, who go to Mass regularly, to understand the concept of God’s power – that no matter where they go, God is with them – but her students had grasped it quickly because of the scripture they do at school.
“To have all the kids reaffirm – ‘Of course He is going to be there [in space]’ – it was just evidence that scripture class does matter. And we do make a difference.”
Ms Clarke said the whole school had gotten behind the competition and all the students, herself included, were waiting anxiously for the decision that will be announced on 6 December.
“We have been excited for weeks since we put the application in,” she said.
“The fact we’ve come together as a class in Mulgoa, and we’ve sent something off to the Australian Space Agency was something that the children can have pride in. It’s not going to be forgotten.
“We would love to win, but we’ve actually been part of history doing this.”
