FAQs

Challenge prizes offer a reward to whoever can first or most effectively meet a defined challenge. Through a public competition, challenge prizes aim to tap into and engage the broadest possible community of innovators in the solving of a specific problem or challenge. For more visit our What is a Challenge Prize? page.

The Aqualunar Challenge is calling innovators to pioneer technology and innovation that will purify water on the Moon. This will help to:

• Accelerate space technology and drive innovation within the UK’s spacetech and in-situ resource utilisation industries
• Help support further space exploration and long-term human presence on the Moon
• Develop innovative water purification technologies for use in challenging environments on Earth

The Challenge also aims to foster long-lasting collaboration between the United Kingdom and Canada. It is a collaborative challenge prize between the UK Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency, which aims to encourage collaboration between innovators, industry experts and other stakeholders in the UK and Canada.

Find out more on The Challenge page.

The Aqualunar Challenge is a project of international collaboration between the United Kingdom and Canada. The Aqualunar Challenge is delivered by Challenge Works on behalf of the UK Space Agency in the UK, as part of UKSA’s International Bilateral Fund, and is delivered by the Canadian Space Agency in partnership with Impact Canada in Canada.

Read about our partners here.

The UK track is for UK-based innovators; the Canadian track is for Canada-based innovators. The two have been designed to have the same objectives, but there are some important differences in the administration and prize rules. In particular, the UK track of the challenge awards grand prize winners at the end of Stage 2, while the Canadian track of the challenge awards its grand prize at the end of Stage 3.

UK teams should always refer to the materials on this website and in the UK Applicant Guide.

Canadian teams should always refer to the materials on the Canadian Aqualunar Challenge website.

The Challenge is made up of two stages. Stage 1 is the application period. Stage 2 is the Finalist stage. See more information on our application guidance page and Application Guidance booklet.

The selection of finalists, runners-up and winner shall be made solely by the Judging Panel in order to maintain the public nature and transparency inherent to a challenge prize, with ratification by the UK Space Agency. The panel will be made up of independent experts and will be announced on our website before applications close. Judges will make their selections by assessing applications against the Judging Criteria.

The Aqualunar Challenge welcomes a wide range of applications. We don’t know what the winning technology will look like. The best applications will perform well against the Judging Criteria and demonstrate strong potential for future adaptation to the unique constraints of space as described in the Mission Scenario.

The Challenge is open to completely new, early stage ideas or existing solutions that are pivoting or adding new elements or functionality. Finalists will develop their technologies during the Challenge’s 7.5-month finalist stage. When the Challenge ends in March 2025, we expect technologies to (at a minimum) have begun developing components of a prototype based on their concept design (approximately TRL3).

During the Challenge, in addition to the financial support, finalists will have access to comprehensive capacity development support delivered by our NFS partners Exotopic and Isle Utilities. This support is designed to assist the Aqualunar finalists in further developing their technologies, including technical, commercialisation and business skills support. The non-financial support includes:

• Dedicated mentorship support for each team
• Bookable expert support with space, water, and commercialisation experts
• Monthly deep dives with guest speakers
• Online networking events
• Space and Water industry events
• A bootcamp in Montreal in November 2024 aimed at learning networking opportunities between the UK and Canadian tracks of the Aqualunar Challenge.

To support innovators to develop their technologies, each of the 10 finalists will receive a £30,000 grant to develop their technology, as well as access to comprehensive in-kind capacity development support through the 7.5-month finalist period.

The first place winner will receive £150,000, the second place runner-up will receive £100,000 and the third place runner-up will receive £50,000 to help further develop and get their technologies to market. They will also receive support in April and May 2025 to help accelerate the development of their solutions.