NASA offers $3 million in cash prizes to solve a problem that is not rocket science

Scientists estimate that the current cost of transporting just one pound of material to the moon and back is nearly $100,000 – a steep penalty for overpacking.

And now NASA is looking to crowdsource solutions that would help future astronauts more efficiently reuse the materials they bring to Earth’s natural satellite, offering $3 million in cash prizes through the new “LunaRecycle Challenge.”

“Astronauts will have to make the most of everything they take with them, even their trash,” the US space agency said in a video promoting the competition.

LunaRecycle’s focus, the agency noted, would be on “non-gaseous, non-biological and non-metabolic” solid waste: “things such as packaging, fabrics and structural elements.”

The end goal is to come up with innovative and hyper-efficient new ways to turn this waste into “usable products” that support “science and research beyond the planet.”

Phase 1 of the competition features a $1 million prize pool and allows innovators to compete in two different ways.

A ‘Digital Twin’ track will accept submissions of virtual simulations of the contenders’ technology in action, incorporating real-world data, and a ‘The Prototype Build path involves teams developing detailed designs of their recycling inventions.

NASA said Phase 2 would be “dependent on the emergence of promising entries in Phase 1,” but would also carry $2 million in potential profits.

LunaRecycle’s focus, the US space agency noted, would be on “non-gaseous, non-biological and non-metabolic” solid waste: “things such as packaging, fabrics and structural elements.” Phase 1 will focus on prototype model design and will include a $1 million cash prize

NASA said Phase 2 of LunaRecycle would be “dependent on the emergence of promising entries in Phase 1,” but would also bring $2 million in potential profits.

Management of Challenge will be led by the director of space technologies and engineering research at the University of Alabama, Dr. Rajiv Doreswamy.

But the southern school’s College of Engineering will collaborate with NASA, through the historic Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Posted in an FAQ with the LunaRecycle Challengeboth the university and the federal space agency promised that this would not be the case ‘claim all intellectual property (IP) rights in the teams’ entries.’

“All trade secrets, copyrights, patent rights and software rights remain with each team,” the Challenge FAQ states.

Nevertheless, NASA harbors public hope that the development of this lightweight, energy-efficient technology for recycling lunar waste could soon benefit people living and working at home on Spacecraft Earth.

“As NASA prepares to establish a human presence on and around the Moon,” NASA wrote YouTube‘Reduce, reuse, recycle’ will become a universal model, not just an earthly model.”

If successful, these recycling techniques will also make it easier for space explorers to make cheaper and more resource-efficient trips to Mars.

Dr. Ibrahim Guven, associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), noted that the cost of shipping goods to the Red Planet was orders of magnitude more expensive than shipping to the moon.

The cost of sending a pound to Mars and back, according to Dr.’s estimates Guven for 2022amounted to approximately $1 million.

Nevertheless, NASA harbors public hope that the development of this lightweight, energy-efficient lunar waste recycling technology could quickly revolutionize the way we recycle and manage waste on our own planet. )

Scientists estimate that the current cost of transporting just one pound of material to the moon and back is nearly $100,000 – a steep penalty for overpacking

For that price, he added, astronauts must make every trip count: “You don’t want to just jump off the spacecraft, grab a scoop of Mars material and come home,” he joked.

According to a message from NASA in the Federal Registera total of 16 participants could walk away with cash prizes during phase 1 of the challenge.

As many as eight top-scoring U.S. teams following the Digital Twin pathway can win a prize of $50,000 each. And similarly, up to eight of those on the Protype Build circuit can receive $75,000 each in cash prizes.

It’s unclear how the prize money will be distributed per team in the still hypothetical Phase 2, but the Digital Track has been allocated a total prize pool of $600,000, while the Prototype Build track has been awarded $1.4 million.

Designers, scientists, engineers and any other U.S. citizen who would like to participate in the competition are encouraged to register the homepage of the LunaRecycle Challenge for its first webinar, beginning Monday, November 25 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

The webinar will focus on what’s special about ‘digital twins’: unique simulations that work together with data collected in real time and simultaneously in the real world.

“We will delve into the meaning of digital twins, demonstrate practical case studies,” NASA said, “and discuss tools and best practices for developing these models.”