Solving this space problem could land you £2,300,000

Nasa is offering somebody £2,300,000 to help solve a long-running challenge for astronauts – how to deal with space rubbish.

The LunaRecycle Challenge is now open and has been created to help improve the sustainability of long-term space missions.

This includes how to deal with different types of waste like food packaging and old clothing.

Amy Kaminski, from Nasa, said: ‘Operating sustainably is an important consideration for Nasa as we make discoveries and conduct research both away from home and on Earth.

‘With this challenge, we are seeking the public’s innovative approaches to waste management on the Moon and aim to take lessons learned back to Earth for the benefit of all.’

The challenge is a two-phase competition people can enter including a prototype build track and a digital twin track.

The prototype build track focuses on designing and developing hardware components and systems for recycling one or more solid waste streams on the lunar surface.

Whereas the digital twin track focuses on designing a virtual replica of a complete system for recycling solid waste streams on the lunar surface and manufacturing end products. 

Teams will have the opportunity to compete in either or both competition tracks, each of which will carry its own share of the prize purse. 

The challenge manager at Nasa Kim Krome said: ‘I am pleased that Nasa’s LunaRecycle Challenge will contribute to solutions pertaining to technological needs within advanced manufacturing and habitats.

‘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.’

Nasa said it is committed to sustainability and in a statement confirmed: ‘As we prepare for future human space missions, there will be a need to consider how various waste systems, including solid waste, can be minimised – as well as how waste can be stored, processed and recycled in a space environment so that little or no waste will need to be returned to Earth.’

To register as a participant you can do so here.

In other Nasa news, the space agency launched a rocket into space earlier this week to find conditions for alien life.

‘There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life may exist on Europa right now,’ Nasa said.

If scientists find microbes or even something more complex, it would show that life formed independently in two places around the same star (the sun).

This would suggest life could spring up ‘fairly easily once the necessary ingredients are present and that life might be found throughout our galaxy and the universe,’ Nasa said.

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