Technology

NASA launches LunaRecycle Challenge

The global competition aims to find small-scale technologies to improve waste management and in-space recycling for long-term lunar missions.

Cygnus Space freighter - Image Credit: NASA
Image Credit: NASA
NASA has launched the LunaRecycle Challenge, a competition hoping to find sustainable solutions to reduce waste and improve recycling on extended lunar missions.

Although cash prizes are unavailable to foreign nationals and teams, the challenge is open to global participation, offering an opportunity for international collaboration in space waste management.

The LunaRecycle Challenge seeks to address critical problems caused by solid waste streams during missions, and calls for novel approaches and designs that minimise resource inputs, improve efficiency, and reduce toxic outputs through smaller-scale technologies appropriate for spacecraft.

Whilst previous efforts have focused on the reduction of residual mass and volume, this challenge will prioritise recycling technologies that turn waste into usable products needed for science and exploration activities. Solutions are particularly needed for inorganic waste streams such as food packaging, discarded clothing, and science experiment materials.

In July 2024, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate released a ranked list of technology areas that need more development to meet exploration needs, and the LunaRecycle Challenge hopes to address three of these priorities: logistics tracking, clothing, and ‘trash’ management; in-space or on-surface manufacturing or parts and products; and in-space or on-surface manufacturing from recycled or reused materials.

NASA envisions that these innovations could work on the moon and potentially on Earth by focusing on smaller-space, distributed recycling solutions that could help communities across the globe tackle waste more effectively.

Commenting on the goals for the challenge, Amy Kaminski, program executive for NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program, 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.”

Challenge rules

Participants in the LunaRecycle Challenge can compete in two tracks:

Prototype Build track: Teams will design and develop hardware components and systems capable of recycling one or more solid waste streams.
Digital Twin track: Teams will create a virtual replica of a complete recycling system that can process waste and manufacture end products on the lunar surface.

Teams won’t be required to devise systems that recycle all of the listed items, but they will be judged on the net waste their project can recycle. NASA has specified that waste cannot be burned or incinerated, and that teams should avoid projects that would release per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or create microplastics.

Kim Krome, acting manager for NASA’s Centennial Challenges and challenge manager of LunaRecycle, added: “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 has partnered with the University of Alabama to coordinate the challenge, with support from former Centennial Challenge winner AI Spacefactory, who used 3D printing technology to design Mars habitats using recyclable PLA composites.

Starting in October 2024, NASA will host a series of webinars and team recruitment activities, leading up to the Phase 1 submission deadline on 31 March 2025.

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