SonoChem wins £150k Aqualunar Challenge for lunar water extraction

The Aqualunar Challenge - a £1.2m international prize funded by the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund and delivered by Challenge Works - aims to drive the development of technologies that make human habitation on the Moon viable by purifying water beneath the lunar surface.

Naicker Scientific’s SonoChem System was named the winner by the UK Space Agency’s Meganne Christian at a ceremony in Canada House, London, where the team was awarded its cash prize.

In a statement, Christian, said: “NASA has set the goal of establishing a permanent crewed base on the Moon by the end of the decade. The Artemis programme…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 per cent of the soil [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.”