The space agency has set an ambitious goal of sending astronauts back to the moon by 2024 and the crew will obviously have to go to the bathroom during the mission.
NASA may adapt the toilet design for its Artemis lunar lander, so it will need to work both in the microgravity of space, or “zero-g,” and on the moon, where the gravity is about a sixth of what we feel on Earth, according to the design guidelines posted by NASA and HeroX, which allows anyone to create challenges to solve a problem facing the world.
The mission will include the first female astronaut to ever travel to the moon, so the toilets will need to be able to accommodate men and women.
The toilet designs should also conserve water and “help maintain a pristine environment inside the lander that is free of odors and other contaminants.”
