Featured Image Credit: Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images / Paolo Nespoli - ESA/NASA via Getty Images
Topics: NASA, Space, Science, Technology
Callum Jones
Topics: NASA, Space, Science, Technology
NASA isn't short of money, there's no doubt about that. So they are now offering $3 million to an individual who can solve how to do one thing in space.
The space agency has many problems in outer space, and a cash prize is up for anyone who can help them with one of them.
NASA is pressing ahead with a project that would see people on the moon once more, with the first crew in over 50 years set to land on it's surface in September 2026.
The hugely anticipated mission will see the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon.
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While NASA has worked out how to get people to the moon by now, the space agency is looking for help with improving the sustainability of long-term lunar missions.
The agency is seeking help with new ways to process different types of waste, including old clothing and food packaging.
Amy Kaminski, 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.”
NASA hopes to combat their problem with the recently announced LunaRecycle Challenge, a two-phase competition people can enter to help NASA be more sustainable when it comes to space missions.
The challenge manager of the scheme and acting programme manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges, Kim Krome, 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.”
There's no doubt NASA is fully committed to being more sustainable, with a press release on their site stating: "NASA is committed to sustainable space exploration. As we prepare for future human space missions, there will be a need to consider how various waste streams, including solid waste, can be minimized—as well as how waste can be stored, processed, and recycled in a space environment so that little or no waste will need to be returned to Earth."