NASA Continues Search for Moon-Focused Sustainability Solutions

NASA accepts American submissions for the second phase of the agency Lunarecycle challenge, a recycling competition focused on the moon. The challenge aims to develop solutions for the recycling of common trash materials – such as fabrics, plastics, foam and metals – which could accumulate from activities such as system operations, industrial activities and construction habitats in deep space.

Phase 2 of the Lunarecycle challenge is divided into two levels: a stage and the final round. Submissions of the stage round are open until January 2026, the finalists of this Tour announced in February. Up to 20 finalists from The Milestone Round will participate in the demonstrations of the prototype in person of the challenge and the final judgment, scheduled for the following August. Cash prices totaling $ 2 million are available for successful solutions in both cycles.

“NASA is impatient to see how the reimagination of these materials can be useful to future potential planetary surface missions,” said Jennifer Edmunon, actual program manager for the Centennial challenges at Marshall Space Flight Center de la NASA in Huntsville, in Alabama. “I am convinced to focus on the elements of the most critical waste – and the integration of the prototype and the digital twin competition tracks – will produce remarkable solutions that could allow a lasting human presence and transform the future of space exploration.”

Estimates indicate that a crew of four astronauts could generate more than 2,100 kilograms (4,600 pounds) of single -use waste – including food packaging, plastic films, foam packaging, clothing and more – within 365 days. Successful solutions in phase 2 of Lunarecycle should manage volumes of realistic waste while minimizing resource inputs and crew time and operating safely with a minimum of dangers.

Phase 2 is only open to individuals and teams. Participants can submit solutions, whether in competition in the previous phase 1 competition.

All participants in phase 2 should build a physical prototype. In addition, participants can submit a digital twin of their prototype for additional rewards in the milestone and the final towers.

The Lunarecycle challenge is a challenge to the Centenary of NASA, which is part of the prize, challenge and crowdsourcing program within the management of the NASA space technology mission. Lunarecycle Phase 1 has received record interest from the global community of innovators. The challenge received more than 1,200 registrations – more than any competition in the 20th anniversary of the challenges of the centenary – and a panel of 50 judges estimated nearly 200 observations. Seventeen teams were selected as phase 1 winners, representing five countries and nine American states. The winners were announced via Livestream on the YouTube channel of NASA Marshall.

Lunarecycle is managed at NASA Marshall with experts in the matter mainly at the center, as well as the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley in California. NASA, in partnership with the College of Engineering at the University of Alabama, manages the challenge with the coordination of the former Centennial Challenge AI SpaceFactory winner and member of the environmental sustainability industry, Veolia.

To find out more about the second phase of Lunarecycle, including registration for the next webinars, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/lunarecycle

-END-

Jasmine Hopkins
NASA seat, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov