With the launch of the manned Artemis spacecraft approaching, NASA is exploring sustainable solutions for waste management during long-term missions on the lunar surface.
The initiative, called Lunar Recycle, based on the space agency’s Centennial Challenge program, aims to encourage the design and development of recycling solutions for use on the lunar surface. Moon and/or to reduce waste within a pressurized lunar habitat. Project ArtemisIt aims to improve the sustainability of future space exploration.
“As NASA prepares for future human space missions, we must consider ways to minimize various waste streams, including solid waste, and how waste can be stored, treated, and recycled in the space environment to ensure little or no waste has to be returned to Earth,” NASA said. Contract Opportunities For Phase 1 of the LunaRecycle Challenge.
With so many missions to the moon, both private and government, humanity is looking for newThe Anthropocene of the Moon“It represents an era in which humanity will begin to change the Moon forever. After all, no manned lunar mission has gone before this. Landing craftflag, science experiment, Golf ball,Furthermore Human waste On the moon.
NASA hopes to reduce the impact astronauts will have on the Moon through this new program, but establishing a long-term stay on the lunar surface will require transporting large amounts of cargo. Earth Transporting to the moon is reusable recycling A process that minimizes the impact on the lunar environment. By way of background, the challenge statement notes that everyday items such as paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, textiles and glass account for more than 50% of U.S. municipal solid waste, and only 40% of that is recycled.
NASA aims to tackle this recycling shortfall head on with its new LunaRecycle initiative: “The challenge will focus on recycling techniques for materials that closely resemble hard-to-recycle materials,” the proposed rule states.
“The Challenge has the potential to highlight entirely new approaches to recycling, processes that improve energy and water efficiency, reduce unusable output and toxic emissions, and small-scale solutions that can be deployed in local communities in a more decentralized way than current recycling facilities.”
The Luna Recycling Challenge has two competition tracks, one of which is a “digital twin” track, where participants must design a virtual model of a system capable of recycling one or more solid waste streams. Lunar Surface In addition, the Prototype Construction track will focus on designing and developing actual hardware capable of recycling one or more types of solid waste on the lunar surface.
The proposed rule states that this would help NASA meet the needs of “a variety of end products that utilize, in whole or in part, materials generated from the recycling process.”
The competition will have two phases, beginning with each team submitting technical details of their proposed solution to a panel of judges for review. Phase 2 will depend on the submission of viable approaches to address the challenges of Phase 1, as per the drafted rules.
The total funding for the LunaRecycle Challenge is $3 million, of which $1 million will be allocated to Phase 1 and $2 million to Phase 2. Registration for Phase 1 will open in September, with the deadline for submissions being March 31, 2025. Judging will begin in May, after which the winners will be announced, along with the rules for Phase 2.
