NASA to award Rs 26 lakh to 'space toilet for Moon' winner

New Delhi : No matter how incredible the astronauts are, they are still the humans and need to poo and pee even if they are in space and to cater this need American space agency has announced a challenge in which it has asked people to design a space toilet that can be used in Moon and the winning design will be awarded with Rs 26 lakh.

After the Apollo missions ended in 1975, engineers described defecation and urination are serious problems of space travel. NASA started giving astronauts some urination equipment but the problem is not completely solved.

The US space agency is all set to return to the Moon and this time they have plans to take things to a different level with activities like building shelter on the lunar surface. Astronauts consume food and they urinate and defecate in microgravity and lunar gravity, so they need a toilet that has all the facilities like that of ones here on Earth. Just know about the 'Lunar Loo Challenge'. Here is the tweet made by HeroX.

NASA in its statement said that "Although space toilets already exist and are in use (at the International Space Station, for example), they are designed for microgravity only." There are two categories in this challenge - Technical and Junior. The last date to submit designs is August 17. 

NASA's Artemis Moon mission will carry the first woman and next man on the surface of the moon by 2024.

NASA's Human Landing System Programme is the final mode of transportation that will take astronauts to the lunar surface in the Artemis lunar exploration program. NASA experts will work closely with these commercial partners to build their human landing systems, leveraging decades of human spaceflight experience and the speed of the commercial sector to achieve a Moon landing in 2024.