NASA offers Rs 25 crore prize to transform 96 bags of human waste left on the moon into usable materials

 

 

Washington: NASA has offered a huge sum of money to transform 96 bags of human waste left on the moon by astronauts during NASA's Apollo missions into usable materials. NASA has come up with such a promise after 50 years. The prize was offered at $ 3 million (Rs 25.82 crore) to individuals or teams who can develop technologies that convert discarded waste such as feces, urine and vomit into materials such as water, energy and fertilizer. The project was named Luna Recycle Challenge.

Between 1969 and 1972, Apollo astronauts made six successful landings on the moon. The team returned to Earth after collecting samples of materials including lunar rocks. Due to limited space on the spacecraft, astronauts returned to the moon leaving behind non-essential items such as human waste. The 96 bags of human waste they left behind are still on the moon. They have not decomposed for more than half a century.

NASA says waste recycling is critical to the Artemis Moon mission. Since NASA's Artemis mission aims for a permanent human presence on the moon, long-term waste management is a priority. On long-term space missions, waste needs to be reused or recycled. Returning waste to Earth is not practical.

How to reduce solid waste on space missions and how to store, treat, and recycle waste in the space environment is a major challenge. The goal of the Luna Recycle Challenge is to overcome this problem. NASA hopes to find technologies that can handle not only waste from past Apollo missions, but also solid waste generated by future missions.