From Narromine to drilling and the moon

That dream was not just to visit, but to set up permanent human habitation on the natural satellite.

It sounded like a science fiction movie for most people back in the 1990s, when Nick was in high school, but it now has the bona fide potential of being a reality.

Furthermore, the boy from Narromine thinks there's a real chance he could score a spot on a mission to the moon to help establish the infrastructure for human habitation.

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A trip to the moon is a far cry from attending Narromine Public and then Narromine High, where he graduated in 2001.

"I knew if I had any chance of being involved in a space program, even back in high school, I had to work hard and get top marks," he said.

Nick did exceptionally well in the Higher School Certificate, but initially missed winning a place in his chosen university course.

"What they don't tell young people at high school is that even if you miss out on the course you want to do, it's still worth starting a degree at the same university in the same facility," he said.

"Once you are in the system, there's a good chance down the track you can transfer across to your chosen degree."

Nick was in the first year to study space engineering in Australia, and was the only person to graduate with a mechanical (space) engineering degree in 2005.

His "space dream" hit a snag upon graduation as there were no jobs available in his chosen career.

Instead of giving up on the idea, he took jobs working all around the world on oil and gas rigs, letting his engineering skills, coupled with a "can-do" attitude learnt growing up on the farm, propel him into positions of high responsibility with big name companies.

Then, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic really began to bite, he lost his job.

"I had to reassess and change direction," he said. "I went back to uni and commenced a PhD in space mining at the University of NSW."

Nick is now studying the geo-mechanical properties of the lunar soil, manufacturing lunar soil simulant, and performing thermal analysis of the moon, looking for possible water locations beyond what already exist.

"Yes, we have found new ones [water locations], but I can't say where until later this year when we publish the findings," he said.

Nick said drilling on the moon is much more rugged and damages any sort of mechanical equipment much more quickly than the wear and tear would be on Earth.

Beneath the fine regolith layer (lunar dirt) is a layer of highly fractured bedrock many kilometres thick. In addition, the surface of the moon is an extreme environment with a wide range of temperatures unlike anything on Earth.

Recently, Nick was part of the University of NSW team who came third in the finals for an international competition, the Over the Dusty Moon Challenge held in the US, with a judging panel from NASA and the aerospace company Lockheed Martin.

The UNSW engineers had to design and build a regolith transport solution for the moon.

"International space agencies, including the Australian Space Agency, are looking at exploring the moon, Mars and asteroids, and the only feasible way to do this is to utilise the resources available on these bodies," Nick said.

"Transporting lunar regolith is an essential part of the extraction process. The environments which the systems need to operate in are unlike anything on Earth, with temperatures ranging from 120degC to -246degC, plus high levels of solar radiation, and soils that are jagged and very abrasive.

"For an Australian team to make the finals of an international competition, it provides a platform for the Australian space and mining communities to work together and develop the next generation of engineers who will be working in space."

Nick added that simplicity was the key for systems which are designed to be used on the moon.

"Due to the difficulty in performing maintenance operations on the moon, they 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," he said.

"There's a direct parallel with that and the way farmers go about solving problems on their farms.

"Growing up on a piggery, it was critical the solutions were cost-effective and simple.

"Country kids pick up on that naturally and, without realising it, that gives them an advantage when it comes to working in industries such as engineering."

Nick wants to give back to the rural community and show that country kids can do anything.

"I've always maintained that country kids have a better understanding of systems and practical capabilities, due to their rural upbringing, that is useful in space applications - something that many would consider well beyond what would be accessible to them," he said.

He urges kids growing up in the bush to aim high - perhaps even dream of going to the moon one day.