NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its LunaRecycle Challenge on Friday, Aug. 28, at The University of Alabama (UA) Lee Styslinger College of Engineering in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Launched in 2024, the challenge incentivizes the invention of new recycling systems that could support non-metabolic waste management efforts for future lunar missions.
Media and the public are invited to the challenge’s Technology Showcase and Winners Announcement, where up to 14 finalist teams will showcase their solutions and hear from NASA and UA leadership about the future of lunar innovation. Opening remarks will begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT on Aug. 28, in Room 1026 of H.M. Comer Hall on the UA campus.
Media interested in covering the event should confirm their attendance with the NASA Marshall newsroom by 3 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 27, at: joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov.
The LunaRecycle Challenge is a $3 million, two-phase competition focused on the design and development of recycling solutions that can reduce non-metabolic waste and improve the sustainability of longer-term lunar missions. In the Final Round of Phase 2, invited teams were tasked with refining their prototype and digital twin concepts in preparation for live testing at McAbee Construction in Tuscaloosa earlier this month.
After this event, up to 11 teams will receive a portion of the $1.325 million prize purse from NASA for their prototype and digital twin solutions. The top two prototypes will earn $500,00 and $225,000, while top two digital twins will receive $275,000 and $125,000. Up to six Technical Achievement Prizes will be awarded to teams who excel in categories determined by the judging panel during final deliberations. Additionally, a $25,000 People’s Choice Award will be presented to the team who receives the most votes from the public and stakeholders throughout the Technology Showcase.
Winners will be announced live during the Technology Showcase closing ceremony, which begins at 12 p.m.
The LunaRecycle Challenge is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center by Centennial Challenges, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate. NASA’s Centennial Challenges have a legacy of more than 20 years engaging the public to solve complex problems that benefit NASA’s broader initiatives. Past challenges have spurred advances in robotics, additive manufacturing, power and energy, textiles, chemistry, and biology.
Phase 1 of the competition received record-breaking interest from the global innovator community. The challenge received more than 1,200 registrations – more than any competition in the 20-year history of Centennial Challenges – and a panel of 50 judges evaluated nearly 200 submissions. Seventeen teams were selected as Phase 1 winners, representing five countries and nine U.S. states, announced via livestream on NASA Marshall’s YouTube channel.
The LunaRecycle Challenge also is supported by recycling subject matter experts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The University of Alabama Lee J. Styslinger Jr. College of Engineering executes the challenge in partnership with NASA.
To learn more about the LunaRecycle Challenge visit:
