Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The challenge issued by the space agency seeks input about “waste management/conversion” in four categories: trash, fecal waste, foam packaging material and carbon dioxide processing.
While a manned mission to Mars is still a thing of the perhaps not-so-distant future, as well as science fiction novels and movies, US space agency NASA has recently issued a call to help it solve an important aspect of such a venture.
As the flight to the Red Planet and back may take between two to three years, and resupplying this mission may or may not be possible, waste recycling becomes an important factor in ensuring the success of the whole undertaking.
Under the auspices of the so called “Waste to Base Materials Challenge”, NASA has asked the public for their input about possible ways to “convert waste into base materials and other useful things, like propellant or feedstock for 3D printing”.
The challenge seeks ideas for “waste management/conversion” in four distinct categories: trash, fecal waste, foam packaging material and carbon dioxide processing.
The winning ideas in each category are going to be awarded a $1,000 prize each, while ideas recognised by judges as “best in class” are also going to be awarded a $1,000 prize; the total prize purse amounts to $24,000.
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