The UK Space Agency, in partnership with its Canadian counterpart, has launched the £1.2-million Aqualunar Challenge, which aims to support the development of technology that would enable the extraction of purified water from ice buried beneath the lunar surface.
“The UK is playing an important role in the NASA-led Artemis Missions, which aim to establish a permanent crewed base on the Moon’s surface by the end of the decade,” said UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate. “This will only be possible if astronauts have reliable access to water, and it is far better to source that water on the Moon than to send it up from Earth.”
In addition to providing astronauts with drinking water, the purified water could also be used to grow food, and component elements of water could be extracted to produce oxygen to breathe and hydrogen to refuel vehicles visiting the lunar surface to deliver cargo and crew. Securing a reliable source of water is, as a result, a key element to developing a sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon. Advanced water purification also has a number of applications here on Earth, from removing microplastics to providing safe drinking water in drought-prone areas.
The submission deadline for Aqualunar Challenge proposals is 8 April. While entrants to the UK track of the challenge will need to be led by a UK-based entity, the rules do allow international collaboration within teams. A total of ten finalists will be announced in June 2024, and each will receive £30,000 in seed funding. In March 2025, three grand prize winners will be announced and awarded a combined £300,000 in funding to develop their purification systems further. The winners will also receive technical, design, and commercialization support.
The Canadian track of the Aqualunar Challenge will be managed separately, with a total of one million CAD being awarded over three rounds.
