Do You Want To Join NASA’s “Lunar Loo Challenge?”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA, is planning to send astronauts back on the Moon once again. But unlike before when the Apollo missions left 96 bags of human poo on our planet’s only natural satellite because they didn’t have toilets back then, the agency is now planning to build a space toilet stationed there.

And in order to create the best Moon toilet the Solar System has to offer, NASA wants to hear from members of the public who might have ideas on the best way to manufacture an easy-to-use lunar restroom.

Today, NASA is announcing the “Lunar Loo Challenge,” a competition in partnership with HeroX to come up with the best space toilet for the agency’s future human lunar lander. As part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024, the lander will take astronauts from lunar orbit down to the Moon’s surface. That means the restroom on board has to be versatile: it will need to work in orbit, where the astronauts will be weightless, and also when astronauts are experiencing one-sixth of Earth’s gravity on the lunar surface. And without much gravity, things can get a little messy if you don’t prepare.

More details about this challenge over at The Verge.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)