NASA is offering a whopping $3 million to anyone who can figure out how to do this one particular thing in space.
The cash prize is up for grabs for anyone who can come up with a solution to a problem NASA has in space.
The space agency plans to reignite its missions to the moon with its first crewed landing in over 50 years expected to take place in September 2026.
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With the mission, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.
However, there’s the issue of improving the sustainability of long term lunar missions that the agency is looking for help with.
NASA recently announced the LunaRecycle Challenge, which is a two-phase competition aimed at developing solutions for how to recycle waste on deep space missions - and it’s looking for people who can help with preparations.
It’s hoped that someone will be able to help the US agency come up with new ways to process different types of waste including food packaging, science experiment materials and old clothing.
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There has been a lot of work already done to reduce the amount of trash produced in space but NASA say that this competition is a way for them to ‘prioritize technologies for recycling waste into usable products needed for off-planet science and exploration activities’.
Amy Kaminski, who is the 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.”
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Kim Krome, the acting program manager for agency’s Centennial Challenges, and challenge manager of LunaRecycle, added: “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.”
The competition will be made up of two tracks - the prototype build track and the digital twin tracks - and applicants can enter into one or both of them.
The prototype build track focuses on designing and developing systems that can recycle waste on the moon, while the digital twin track is focussed on making a virtual replica of a system for recycling waste streams on the moon.
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If you think you’re up to the challenge, you can apply here.