Nasa is offering $3 million to recycle waste in space

This initiative aims to support Nasa's long-term goals of sustained human presence on the Moon and future deep space exploration.

In Short

• The challenge focuses on developing energy-efficient recycling technologies
• LunaRecycle prioritises recycling waste into usable products
• The challenge leverages open innovation, tapping into public ingenuity

Nasa has unveiled its latest innovation competition, the LunaRecycle Challenge, offering a $3 million prize pool for groundbreaking solutions in recycling material waste on deep space missions.

This initiative aims to support Nasa's long-term goals of sustained human presence on the Moon and future deep space exploration.

The challenge focuses on developing energy-efficient, low-mass, and low-impact recycling technologies to process inorganic waste streams such as food packaging, discarded clothing, and science experiment materials.

Unlike previous efforts that concentrated on reducing trash mass and volume, LunaRecycle prioritises recycling waste into usable products for off-planet science and exploration activities.

The competition features two tracks: a Prototype Build track for designing hardware components and systems, and a Digital Twin track for creating virtual replicas of complete recycling systems.

This dual-track approach allows for broader participation and innovation from global problem-solvers.

LunaRecycle aligns with Nasa's plans of sustainable space operations and addresses key technological needs identified by the aerospace community.

The challenge targets three specific areas: logistics tracking, clothing, and trash management for habitation; in-space and on-surface manufacturing of parts and products; and manufacturing from recycled and reused materials.

Amy Kaminski, program executive for Nasa's Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program, emphasised the importance of sustainability in space exploration and the potential for these innovations to benefit life on Earth.

The challenge leverages open innovation, tapping into public ingenuity to revolutionise waste management approaches both in space and on our home planet.

By incentivising creative solutions for lunar waste recycling, Nasa aims to improve the sustainability of long-duration missions and potentially transform waste treatment practices on Earth.