The American Space Agency (NASA) called on innovators around the world to develop a toilet that works not only in microgravity but also in lunar gravity in a future spacecraft on the moon as part of its plans to return To the moon by 2024, as part of the Artemis mission.
The winning design will receive twenty thousand dollars, the second design will be rewarded with ten thousand dollars and the third design will be five thousand dollars.
Children under the age of 18 are also encouraged to apply in the "Junior" category.
"This challenge hopes to attract new and radically different approaches to the problem of capturing and containing human waste," NASA wrote Thursday.
The toilet should be able to operate under the moon´s gravity, which is about a sixth of the Earth´s gravity. It should not occupy more than 0.12 cubic meters and operate at a noise level of less than 60 decibels which is roughly equivalent to a toilet ventilation fan on the floor.
And most important of all, he must be able to collect urine and stools simultaneously to accommodate 1 liter of urine and 500 grams of stools that may be in the form of diarrhea.
In addition to the previous specifications, he must be able to deal with up to 114 grams of menstrual blood per crew per day and "it is easy to clean and maintain."
Author Craig Nelson noted in his book "Rocket of Mine" that during Apollo missions, he ejected urine into space where it "froze and turned into a glistening ice crystal". Astronauts have also left bags of debris on the moon, which NASA said one day hopes to study for signs of life.
The deadline to apply to the competition is 17 August, and "will be awarded additional points for designs that can capture vomiting without requiring the crew to put their head in the toilet."
