NASA offers $3 million in cash prizes to solve a problem that is not rocket science

Scientists estimation that the existent outgo of getting conscionable one pound of worldly up to the satellite and backmost comes to astir $100,000 — a steep punishment for overpacking.

And present NASA is looking to crowdsource solutions that would assistance aboriginal astronauts much efficiently reuse the worldly they bring up to Earth's earthy satellite, offering $3 cardinal successful currency prizes via its caller 'LunaRecycle Challenge.'

'Astronauts volition request to marque the astir of everything they bring with them, adjacent their garbage,' the US abstraction bureau said successful a video promoting the competition.

LunaRecycle's focus, the bureau noted, would beryllium 'non-gaseous, non-biological, and non-metabolic' coagulated waste: 'things similar packaging, fabrics and structural elements.'

The extremity end is to imagination up innovative and hyper-efficient caller ways to alteration this trash into 'usable products' that enactment 'off-planet subject and exploration.'

Phase 1 of the contention volition transportation a $1 million-prize purse and let innovators to vie on 2 antithetic tracks. 

A 'Digital Twin' way volition judge submissions of virtual simulations of the contenders' exertion successful action, incorporating existent satellite data, and a 'Prototype Build' way volition instrumentality connected teams processing elaborate designs of their recycling inventions.

NASA said that Phase 2 would beryllium 'contingent connected the emergence of promising submissions successful Phase 1,' but would besides bring with it $2 cardinal successful imaginable winnings.

Management of Challenge volition beryllium led by the manager of abstraction technologies and engineering probe at the University of Alabama, Dr Rajiv Doreswamy.

But the confederate school's College of Engineering volition beryllium coordinating with NASA, via its historical Marshall Space Flight Center successful Huntsville, Alabama.

In a FAQ posted with the LunaRecycle Challenge, some the assemblage and the national abstraction bureau promised that it would not 'claim immoderate intelligence spot (IP) rights from the Teams' submissions.'

'All commercialized secrets, copyrights, patent rights, and bundle rights volition stay with each respective Team,' according to the Challenge's FAQ.

Nevertheless, NASA harbors nationalist anticipation that the improvement of this light-weight, debased energy, lunar discarded recycling tech mightiness rapidly travel to payment humans surviving and moving backmost location connected spaceship Earth arsenic well.

'As NASA prepares to found a quality beingness connected and astir the moon,' NASA posted to YouTube, '"reduce, reuse, recycle" volition go a cosmopolitan model, not conscionable and Earthly one.'

If successful, these recycling techniques volition besides marque it easier for abstraction explorers to behaviour cheaper and much assets businesslike trips to Mars arsenic well.

Dr Ibrahim Guven, an associate prof of mechanical and atomic engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), noted that the outgo to vessel goods to the Red Planet was orders of magnitude much costly than shipping to the moon.

The outgo of sending a lb to Mars and back, according to Dr Guven's 2022 estimates, came to astir $1 million.

At that price, helium added, astronauts person to marque each travel count: 'You don't privation to conscionable leap disconnected the spacecraft, get a scoop of Mars worldly and travel home,' helium joked.

According to NASA's posting successful the Federal Register, arsenic galore arsenic 16 full competitors could locomotion distant with currency prizes during Phase 1 of the Challenge. 

As galore arsenic 8 top-scoring US teams who prosecute the Digital Twin way could triumph a prize of $50,000 apiece. And, similarly, up to 8 of those connected the Protype Build way could person $75,000 each successful currency prizes.

It's unclear however prize wealth volition beryllium divided by squad successful the inactive hypothetical Phase 2, but the Digital Track has been allotted a full prize purse of $600,000 portion the Prototype Build way has been apportioned $1.4 million.

Designers, scientists, engineers and immoderate different US national who wants to participate the contest, is encouraged to registry on the LunaRecycle Challenge's homepage for its archetypal webinar, which begins connected Monday November 25 astatine 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

The webinar volition absorption connected what's peculiar astir 'digital twins,' unsocial simulations that enactment successful tandem with information collected successful real-time simultaneously retired successful the existent world. 

'We'll delve into the value of integer twins, showcase applicable lawsuit studies' NASA said, 'and sermon tools and champion practices for processing these models.'