NASA has major plans in space exploration, including artemis — a program to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024 with the aim of establishing a presence that will enable eventual crewed journeys to mars. preparations for this event include multiple activities to equip, shelter and support future astronauts. like us on earth, these astronauts will be eating and drinking, and naturally urinating and defecating in microgravity and lunar gravity.

 

although space toilets already exist and are present at the international space station, they are designed for microgravity only, but NASA needs them for lunar gravity too. this is why NASA is calling on the global community to share their novel design concepts for compact toilets that can work in both microgravity and lunar gravity. they are looking for a next-generation device that is smaller and more efficient.

 

this video explains how space toilets currently work

 

 

getting back to the moon by 2024 is no small feast, and NASA is already working on novel approaches to miniaturize and streamline the existing toilets. but they are also inviting ideas from the global community, knowing that they will approach the problem with a mindset different from traditional aerospace engineering. the challenge hopes to attract radically new and different approaches to the problem of human waste capture and containment.

lunar toilet challenge

 

 

the lunar toilet challenge is for both adults and children, and has a total prize purse of $35,000 that will be shared among the teams submitting the top three designs in the technical category. the top three participants in the junior category will each receive public recognition and an item of official NASA merchandise.

 

 

project info:

 

name: lunar toilet challenge

submit your entry: here