NASA Holds A Toilet Design Competition For The Moon With A Prize Of IDR 502 Million

Illustration of an outdoor toilet (doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - The NASA space agency has an interesting mission for anyone who can design and design a multipurpose toilet to be placed on the Moon. The prize pool was not half-hearted, approximately 35 US dollars (US) or the equivalent of Rp.502 million.

Dubbed the "Lunar Loo Challenge", this toilet will later be used for astronauts who land on the Moon in late 2024 in the Artemis program. Where for the first time NASA wants to send the first woman to set foot on the surface of the Moon.

Because this mission will involve female astronauts, NASA wants to adapt a toilet design that is comfortable for both men and women to use. So, the Moon exploration crew can carry out its mission comfortably, especially since the gravity on the moon is only 1/6 of the weight on Earth.

"The concept of the Lunar toilet design should allow astronauts to urinate and defecate both in microgravity and on the moon's gravity," HeroX said as quoted by CNN International, Monday, June 29.

In collaboration with HeroX, NASA will post design challenges for a toilet to be placed on the Moon. One of them is the toilet design that must be made water efficient, free from odors and environmental contamination in the landing area.

Another criterion, this toilet can support two astronauts for 14 days and allows for the transfer of collected waste to storage or for disposal outside the vehicle.

"The complete solution will be a solution that can support a crew of two astronauts for 14 days, while controlling odors, accommodating various types of waste such as urine, feces, vomiting, diarrhea, menstruation, and use by different genders (women and men)," explained HeroX.

An additional requirement, the toilet must be easy to clean, and only need less than 70 watts of power. Adaptation to space conditions is also required so that the toilet must weigh less than 15 kg of its weight on Earth and its volume is less than 0.12 cubic meters.

If interested, please upload the design concept of the toilet for the Moon on the HeroX website address. The deadline for submitting toilet designs for this month is no later than 17 August 2020 and will be announced in October. Three winners will receive prizes of 20,000, 10,000 and 5,000 US dollars.