The Aqualunar Challenge Winner Just Made Moon Settlements More Real Than Ever

The UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) Aqualunar Challenge has concluded, and one liquid purifying developer reigned supreme. The challenge was part of UKSA’s Artemis contribution, bringing the 10 finalists to Canada House in London’s Trafalgar Square. All of whom had developed technology that can cleanse drinking water sourced on the Moon, setting the foundations for a prolonged human presence on the lunar surface. The £1.2 million challenge saw the SonoChem System hailed victorious, winning the first prize of £150,000. 

Meganne Christian, European Member of the Astronaut Reserve, Commercial Exploration at the UK Space Agency and chair of the Aqualunar Challenge judging panel, said in a press release: “NASA has set the goal of establishing a permanent crewed base on the Moon by the end of the decade. The Artemis programme, as it is known, is supported by the UK Space Agency through its membership of the European Space Agency.”

“Astronauts will need a reliable supply of water for drinking and growing food, as well as oxygen for air and hydrogen for fuel. 5.6% of the soil (known as ‘regolith’) around the Moon’s south pole is estimated to be water frozen as ice. If it can be successfully extracted, separated from the soil and purified, it makes a crewed base viable.”

What Is The Aqualunar Challenge?

Under UKSA’s International Bilateral Fund and in conjunction with Nesta’s Challenge Works, the British space agency called on industry to develop water purifying equipment that can be used on the lunar surface. Namely, to underpin a NASA crew base set to be established by the end of the decade. The goal was to drive technology-enabled solutions that could create viable drinking water for humans on the Moon. 

Water would be sourced from deep beneath the Moon’s surface, and thus, purified so that humans could live on the Moon for a sustained period of time. The three finalists on the podium included SonoChem, placing first with RedSpace’s FRANK, “a filtered regolith aqua neutralisation kit,” coming in second. And placing third was Queen Mary University’s AquaLunarPure, a “Supercritical Water Purification on the Moon [system]” 

Aqualunar First Place Winner: The SonoChem System 

Securing the first place prize of £150,000 was Naicker Scientific who developed the SonoChem System. Based in Gloucestershire, the company natively creates electronics for a range of industries, one of those being the space sector. According to UKSA, the SonoChem System will engage “core technology to purify water derived from lunar ice”. 

To do so, the system utilises sound waves to produce little bubbles – millions to be exact. These bubbles commence the purifying process by exposing the contaminated water to extreme heat. The pressurised environment “created within each micro bubble generates free radicals… which effectively remove contaminants,” UKSA commented.   

Remaining Finalists: FRANK & AquaLunarPure

As previously mentioned, second place was awarded to RedSpace who won £100,000 for their filtered regolith water neutralisation system, colloquially named FRANK. Their kit operates in three states…

• Stage 1: FRANK heats the regolith in a sealed chamber. This produces a “liquid of water, methanol and regolith fragments”, evaporating the volatile gases in the process. 
• Stage 2: The system removes the solid particles via a membrane embedded within the kit. 
• Stage 3: Finally, they distill the remaining drinkable water in order to separate the liquid from the methanol.  

Coming in third is AquaLunarPure which took home £50,000. Their system uses a reactor to melt lunar ice into dust and rock. Thereafter, they then expose the particles to upwards of 373 degrees of heat. Simultaneously, the system adds “220 bars of pressure to turn it into ‘supercritical water’”. What this means is, the water is neither a solid, gas, nor liquid. Rather, it’s a “fourth state that appears like a thick vapour,” UKSA said. Finally, the oxidation removes the contaminants. What’s left is pure, drinkable water. 

Executive Director of Challenge Works, Holly Jamieson, concluded: “Competing teams have reported back that participating in the prize has helped them secure investment and open up commercial conversations to grow their businesses. There may only be one first prize, but the Aqualunar Challenge has produced many winners.”