A team from the University of Glasgow has been named as one of ten finalists for a UK Space Agency challenge to help put a permanently crewed base on the moon.
The Aqualunar Challenge sees 10 finalists put forward their plans to purify ice frozen in lunar soil to provide drinking water, air and fuel for the base and make it habitable.
The teams come from across the UK but one of them is Glasgow based and come out of the School of Chemistry at the university.
Lunasonic is developed by Shaun Fletcher and Dr Lukman Yusuf and each of the teams have different approaches to trying to solve the issue that is stopping there being a team on the moon.
It could see them earn £1.2m prize and being named as a finalist sees them scoop £30k already to help them push on with their project and develop their technologies.
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The challenge is in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and Impact Canada and the winner will be announced early in 2025.
The team from Glasgow is tasked with attempting to get a regular and reliable supply of water for astronauts who go to the moon to allow them to drink and for being able to grow food. Around 5.6% of the soil on the lunar south pole is water frozen as ice and if it can be separated from the soil and purified then it can bring NASA’s goal of establishing a base by the end of the decade viable.
The Lunasonic group’s plans are to have the dirty ice melted and large soil particles extracted before the water is pumped into a “sonoreactor” which uses ultrasound to split and remove volatile compounds and gases, destroy pollutants and cause lunar dust to clump together for easy removal.
It then passes the water through a filter bed of lunar soil – which is rich in calcium, magnesium and aluminium oxides - to remove final contaminants, similar to how a household water filter works.
UK Space Agency reserve astronaut and chair of the Aqualunar Challenge judging panel, Meganne Christian, said: “To sustain a permanent crewed base on the Moon over years and decades, astronauts will need a reliable water supply, which we can also use to produce oxygen and hydrogen.
“It is expensive and risky to send a continuous convoy of rockets from Earth to the Moon to keep a base supplied, which is why we need to develop the technologies that can purify the water that is already on the Moon.
“The lunar environment is unforgiving. With no atmosphere and parts of the surface having never seen sunlight, the ice in the soil is as hard as steel and heavily contaminated with lunar dust - known as regolith - which forms a grinding paste when wet.
“It is no small feat to melt the ice, separate it from the dust and other elements and make it usable. The technologies being developed must have minimal maintenance – they cannot rely on components being sent up from Earth and it won’t be possible for astronauts to regularly change filters and tighten nuts and bolts.”
Paul Bate, CEO, UK Space Agency, said: “The ambition to build a sustainable human presence on the Moon through the NASA-led Artemis Missions will only succeed if we have ways of generating a reliable supply of clean water. The Aqualunar Challenge showcases a range of innovative ideas from UK teams and individuals to tackle this challenge, while strengthening ties with our Canadian partners.
“Space exploration pushes our knowledge to its limit and spurs innovation, resulting in new products and services that can also benefit citizens on Earth. Congratulations to all the finalists who will now go on to develop their ideas further.”
Research by the Aqualunar Challenge has found that 62% of people believe that tehcnologies designed for space exploration should have applications on earth too, while 86% believe those being developed to purify lunar water should be adapted for use on earth.
The ten finalist teams, including the group from Glasgow, will be showcased at the Farnborough Air Show at 1pm on Friday, July 26 in the Space Zone Theatre.
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