NASA announced the launch of the LunaRecycle Challenge on Monday, Sept. 30, offering $3 million in prizes for innovations in recycling material waste on deep space missions with The University of Alabama serving as an allied organization for the contest.
The LunaRecycle Challenge is part of NASA’s broader Centennial Challenge Program and aims to incentivize the development of low-impact, energy-efficient recycling solutions for the issue of waste production as a byproduct of human presence on the moon. Previous efforts focused on the reduction of waste mass and volume, but the LunaRecycle challenge prioritizes technologies that recycle waste into usable products needed for lunar exploration. The objective of the challenge is to revolutionize waste treatments and management to support greater sustainability on Earth and in space.
“I am pleased that NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge will contribute to solutions pertaining to technological needs within advanced manufacturing and habitats,” said Kim Krome, acting program manager for Centennial Challenges and challenge manager of LunaRecycle. “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.”
The University of Alabama is contracted by NASA to be the allied organization for the duration of the challenge. UA will coordinate with former Centennial Challenge winner AI Spacefactory to facilitate the challenge.
“The College of Engineering is honored to be selected as the associated organization for NASA’s next Centennial Challenge, the LunaRecycle Challenge,” said Dr. Rajiv Doreswamy, director of space technology and engineering research for the University. “UA is looking forward to working with NASA, our partners, and all participants in this challenge that seeks to advance technologies for recycling and sustainability, both on the lunar surface and here on our home planet.”
The challenge will be divided into two competition tracks. The Prototype Build track focuses on the development of hardware components and systems for recycling one or more waste streams on the lunar surface, while the Digital Twin track focuses on designing a virtual replica of a complete waste recycling system on the lunar surface and manufacturing end products. The Digital Twin track is designed to limit the barrier to entry for global solvers to participate and contribute to NASA missions. Teams will have the opportunity to compete in either or both competition tracks, each of which will have its own share of the prize purse.
LunaRecycle will address three technological needs out of the 187 identified by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in July 2024: logistics tracking, clothing and trash management for habitation; in-space and on-surface manufacturing of parts and products; and in-space and on-surface manufacturing from recycled and reused materials.
To register as a participant in NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge, visit: lunarecyclechallenge.ua.edu.
NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge is led by the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, with support from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The competition is a part of the NASA Centennial Challenge, based at NASA Marshall. Centennial Challenges are part of NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
For more information about LunaRecycle, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/prizes-challenges-and-crowdsourcing/centennial-challenges/lunarecycle/