The American space agency is launching a global competition. With the “LunaRecycle Challenge”, she wants to find new solutions to recycle and reduce waste during missions to the Moon. The prize: more than 2.8 million euros.
NASA needs thinking heads. The American space agency “committed to sustainable space exploration”and with this in mind, she launched a competition in order to better recycle and reduce waste in space, she explains on her site.
Called “LunaRecycle Challenge”the project aims to collect team projects proposing new waste sorting solutions during lunar missions.
“As we prepare for future manned space missionswe will have to think about how the different waste streams, including solid waste, can be minimizedas well as how waste can be storedprocessed and recycled in a space environment so that little or no waste needs to be returned to Earth”specifies NASA, which partnered with the University of Alabama, based in Tuscaloosa, for this competition.
Everyone can participate!
The American agency will offer no less than 3 million dollars, or around 2.8 million eurosto the most interesting projects. The competition will take place in “two-part and in two phases”it is specified. The first part will be devoted to the construction of prototypes while the second will be access to digital technology. Teams can therefore compete in one or the other.
Surprising fact: the competition is not only open to researchers and engineers, but to all citizens of the world. Innovators have until March 31, 2025 to compete.
“I’m excited that NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge is helping to find solutions to technology needs in advanced manufacturing and housing”said Kim Krome, interim manager of the agency’s Centennial Challenges program and leader of the LunaRecycle challenge.
“We are very excited to see the solutions that our global competitors are generating and we look forward to this challenge serving as a positive catalyst to bring agency and humanity closer together. exploring worlds beyond ours.”
Sources :
NASA Seeks Innovators for Lunar Waste CompetitionNASA News Release, 30 septembre 2024.
NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge, About the challengeNASA.
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