NASA challenges US students to design vital equipment for a Moon base

NASA wants innovative ideas from university students across the country on how to construct a metal production pipeline on the surface of the Moon.

The space agency has taken to its blog and social channels to reveal its 2023 Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, where it detailed that this year's challenge will be to design a metal production pipeline that can extract metal from lunar minerals to create structures and tools. NASA explains that metal will be a vital resource on the Moon when structures are being created due to its strength and resistance to corrosion.

However, metal is heavy, making it very expensive to transport, hence the challenge of designing a pipeline to create it out of lunar materials. Notably, NASA states that drilling, excavation, and transportation of mined materials are not included within the challenge and that a team will be eligible when it has five members, no more than 25 members, and is from U.S.-based colleges and universities affiliated with their state's Space Grant Consortium. Furthermore, the space agency states that there is a non-binding notice of intent due by September 30 and the design proposals in both written and video format on January 24, 2023.

"Here at home, forging metal has long been a key part of building our homes and infrastructure, and the same holds true as we work towards a sustained presence on the Moon. This challenge gives students the opportunity to help develop the future technology that will help us find, process, and manufacture with metal on the lunar surface," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

"NASA is already thinking about supporting longer-term missions to the Moon. This BIG Idea Challenge theme links university teams to the push toward sustained human presence on the Moon and on other planets. This theme goes beyond initial Artemis missions and starts tackling the mission planning needs once we've returned humans to the Moon. We are excited to see what these teams develop," said Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, Space Grant project manager in NASA's Office of STEM Engagement.

For more information on the BIG challenge, check out this link here.