#NASA offers US$3 million in race to recycle poop in space.
Forget moon rocks – NASA’s looking for gold in astronaut poop and there’s US$3 million up for grabs if you can crack the code.
As part of its new Lunar Innovation Initiative, the LunaRecycle Challenge aims to solve one of the most overlooked challenges in long-duration space missions: waste management.
Announced in partnership with the University of Alabama as part of NASA’s Centennial Challenge, the space agency is calling on innovators around the globe to propose systems that recover resources from various types of garbage astronauts would generate on the moon. This includes food packaging, used clothing, broken tools, human waste and more.
NASA estimates that astronauts on the Artemis missions could generate nearly 96 bags of fecal waste during a four-person, 30-day mission.
The competition is split in two separate tracks: Track 1 is to design a digital model of a full resource-recovery system that can operate in harsh lunar environments. Track 2 is to build and demonstrate a working prototype of a key component or subsystem that could be used in such a system.
“We are very excited to see what solutions our global competitors generate, and we are eager for this challenge to serve as a positive catalyst for bringing the agency, and humanity, closer to exploring worlds beyond our own,” said LunaRecycle’s challenge manager Kim Krome in a news release.
Participants can either enter one or both tracks. Each track carries its own share of the prize money. The challenge encourages participants to consider lunar-specific constraints such as limited gravity, vacuum conditions and temperature extremes.
The challenge is open to teams and individuals worldwide, and participation is free.
Entrants do not need to have prior experience working with NASA or other space agencies.

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