A expertise that makes use of microwaves (to defrost) and ultrasound (to interrupt down) contaminants in melted lunar ice to supply clear, drinkable water for astronauts has gained the UK House Company funded Aqualunar Problem.
The Aqualunar Problem is a £1.2 million worldwide prize funded by the UK House Company’s Worldwide Bilateral Fund and delivered by Problem Works – a part of Nesta. It goals to drive the event of revolutionary applied sciences that make human habitation on the Moon viable by purifying water buried beneath the lunar floor.
The SonoChem System by Gloucestershire-based Naicker Scientific, led by Lolan Naicker, was named the winner by UK House Company’s Meganne Christian at a ceremony in Canada Home in London’s Trafalgar Sq., the place the workforce was awarded the £150,000 first prize.
Meganne Christian, Reserve Astronaut and Business Exploration on the UK House Company and chair of the Aqualunar Problem judging panel, stated:
“NASA has set the purpose of creating a everlasting crewed base on the Moon by the tip of the last decade. The Artemis programme, as it’s identified, is supported by the UK House Company via its membership of the European House Company. Astronauts will want a dependable provide of water for ingesting and rising meals, in addition to oxygen for air and hydrogen for gas. 5.6% of the soil (often known as ‘regolith’) across the Moon’s south pole is estimated to be water frozen as ice. If it may be efficiently extracted, separated from the soil and purified, it makes a crewed base viable.”
The SonoChem System employs Naicker Scientific’s groundbreaking core expertise to purify water derived from lunar ice. Harnessing highly effective sound waves, it spontaneously kinds hundreds of thousands of tiny bubbles in contaminated water. The intense temperature and stress created inside every micro bubble generates free radicals (unstable atoms that are extremely chemically reactive) which successfully removes contaminants.
Lolan Naicker, Technical Director, Naicker Scientific defined:
“Think about digging up the soil in your again backyard in the midst of winter and attempting to extract frozen water to drink. Now think about doing it in an atmosphere that’s -200°C, an almost good vacuum, below low gravity, and with little or no electrical energy. That’s what we must overcome on the Moon. If we will make the SonoChem System work there, we will make it work wherever, whether or not that’s on Mars’ glaciers, or right here on Earth in areas the place accessing clear water remains to be a problem”.
UK Science Minister, Lord Vallance stated:
“The Aqualunar Problem was set as much as overcome one of the vital obstacles to people surviving on the Moon or different planets – the provision of unpolluted ingesting water.
“By teaming up with our Canadian companions and harnessing the wealth of expertise and creativity discovered throughout the UK, the problem has uncovered a variety of recent concepts, together with Naicker Scientific’s SonoChem system.
“Many of those concepts couldn’t solely gas future house exploration, but additionally assist enhance lives and clear up water shortages right here on Earth – mitigating the impacts of local weather change as we work in direction of a internet zero future, a key ambition in our Plan for Change.”
Naicker Scientific was awarded the £150,000 first prize, with two runners up successful £100,000 and £50,000 respectively:
First runner up: FRANK – Filtered Regolith Aqua Neutralisation Equipment – developed by father and sons workforce RedSpace Ltd, Aldershot. A 3-stage method designed to ship a steady circulate of drinking-grade water in a lunar atmosphere first heats the regolith pattern in a sealed chamber to separate off risky gases and go away a liquid of water, methanol and regolith fragments. The liquid is handed via a membrane to take away stable particles. The remaining liquid is distilled to separate the methanol from the water.
Second runner up: AquaLunarPure: Supercritical Water Purification on the Moon – developed by Queen Mary College of London. A reactor melts lunar ice to separate the mud and rock particles, then heats it to greater than 373°C at 220 bars of stress to show it into “supercritical water” – not a stable, a liquid or a fuel, however a fourth state that seems like a thick vapour – by which oxidation will take away all of the contaminants in a single step.
10 finalist groups had been every awarded £30,000 seed funding in July 2024 to develop their applied sciences in pursuit of the prize and supplied with a complete package deal of non-financial help, together with knowledgeable mentoring and entry to testing amenities.
The Aqualunar Problem is delivered by Problem Works – a part of the UK’s innovation company for social good, Nesta – and the UK House Company (UKSA), in collaboration with the Canadian House Company (CSA) and Influence Canada, with half the prize being awarded to UK-led groups, and half being awarded to Canadian-led groups.
Holly Jamieson, Govt Director, Problem Works stated:
“Problem prizes are open innovation competitions that stage the enjoying area for innovators whether or not they’re well-established in a sector or coming to it for the primary time – rewarding concepts slightly than reputations. The Aqualunar Problem efficiently attracted new entrants to work within the house sector – a sector that already generates £19 billion of revenue a yr within the UK, however the place there may be nice potential for development. Competing groups have reported again that collaborating within the prize has helped them safe funding and open up industrial conversations to develop their companies. There might solely be one first prize, however the Aqualunar Problem has produced many winners.”
To seek out out extra concerning the Aqualunar Problem within the UK and be taught extra about all ten competing groups, go to aqualunarchallenge.org.uk.