During the Aqualunar Challenge, teams won’t be going to the Moon: you will be creating concepts and then designs of water purification technologies.
During the Challenge, teams will not develop a technology that is ready to meet all the constraints of a real life lunar mission. But we’re looking for a clear path to get there, and a design that takes our objectives into account.
WHY LUNAR WATER?
With humankind returning to the Moon later this decade, purifying the water that exists on the Moon in ice is critical to enabling more ambitious space missions. Using lunar water – as drinking water, to grow food, to create oxygen and to split into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel – is a key enabler for supporting future deep space exploration.
Data suggests that large quantities of water may exist in permanently shadowed regions near the lunar south pole.
But this water is not pure, with a number of contaminants preventing its use unless it is purified.
And purifying that water in the Moon’s harsh environment – at low temperatures, using minimal power, and without easy human access – is tough.
As well as having applications for exploration of the Moon and beyond, technologies developed in the Aqualunar Challenge will have wide application here on Earth – wherever lightweight, robust, low-power water purification is needed.
