NASA offered a reward of $ 35,000 to find a toilet model for people going to the moon

Whatever the design, whatever material doesn't matter, just being compact, working well in space-less gravity and low gravity on the moon is enough.

This design competition was named the "Lunar Loo Challenge" by the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) , without limitation of age, nationality or gender, occupation.

The contest is part of NASA's Artemis mission, intending to send the first woman and subsequent men to the moon by 2024 - (Image: NASA).

This is part of an effort to send astronauts to the moon in the next four years. The design, improvement and installation of equipment is urgently completed. However, the toilet on the spacecraft is still a problem that makes experts have a headache.

NASA wants contestants to come up with smaller, more efficient toilet designs.

The toilet design must be relatively simple and occupy no more than 1.2m ³ , the weight does not exceed 15kg so that it can fit a spacecraft to the moon in the future, but must be full of parts. Necessity of a toilet like tank, catheter.

The new toilet will be installed on spacecraft and can support the crew for at least 14 days, suitable for both men and women, keeping all kinds of different waste such as urine, feces in the form, and vomiting.

In addition to the above "simple" requirements , the new design also needed to free the entire ship from odors, save water, produce less than 60 decibels of noise and consume less than 70 watts of electricity.

Finally, what the contestants need to pay special attention to is that toilets should work well both in space-free gravity and low gravity on the moon. That is, whether on the moon, the waste will still fall without being suspended or soaring up.

NASA said the designs to help the toilet "absorb" the vomit of crew members that they do not need to bury their head in the tank will be added points.

The prize for the winner is USD 20,000, the second prize is USD 10,000 and the third prize is USD 5,000.

The competition also offers a prize for candidates under the age of 18 to encourage students to participate in promoting their talents. The winner will receive a certificate of merit and a souvenir with the NASA logo.

NASA hopes the competition opens to the global community will receive unique designs, different from the designs of traditional aerospace engineers ever made.

Deadline for receiving applications is August 17, 2020.