CHALLENGE 02

Flushing for Humanity

Challenge Overview

One of our favourite thought experiments is around the opportunities for humanity if we push to settle Mars. A very remote and hostile location, we need to overcome some very great challenges to make it work – and those challenges won’t only be useful for Mars, but back here on Earth, too.

In this challenge we want you to design and build a mass manufacturable Martian toilet.

A Martian settlement needs approximately 1 million people to be sustainable, and without a first-world sewerage system in place, we can’t rely on the toilets we use today.

A Martian toilet will need to be efficient in recycling all inputs and resources like water, energy and nutrients.

Critically, this venture requires the development of a business model (whether as a pure not-for-profit, or for-profit) to take this from being a science experiment, and turn it into a valuable proposition for people on earth today.

How might mass manufacturing reduce your costs to enable the deployment of the same toilets to give access to the billions of people who still don’t have access to a safe household toilet today? Can you quantify the value that could be unlocked if this was possible?

Your Objectives:

1. Design a prototype and and business case for a mass-manufacturable Martian toilet. Consider how you’re going to efficiently recycle as much waste product into usable resources essential for sustaining life in otherwise inhospitable locations, and without an ability to connect to a modern sewerage network.

2. Prepare a 3-minute video demonstrating and pitching your proposed solution. You can follow any narrative structure you prefer, but one you could follow is walking through the stages of: What is the problem? What should the solution resemble? What is your technology to realise this? What’s your proposed business model? Who are your first target customers, and how do you know they really want your solution? What’s your assessment of the market opportunity? What does the competitive landscape look like? Who is your A-team and why are you the best to build this? What would come next to make it real? What would you need to do that?

NOTE: Teams may perform background research before the event, but any group that starts building before the 48 hour timer starts will be disqualified.

Your Rewards:

First Prize

  • $1000 cash
  • $2000 worth of units in our 2022 fund (i.e. targeting 12 space tech investments)
  • Moonshot t-shirts – 60 minutes of free Moonshot coaching
  • A copy of ‘Space is open for business’ by Robert Jacobsen

Second Prize

  • $500 cash
  • $1000 worth of units in our 2022 fund (i.e. targeting 12 space tech investments)
  • Moonshot t-shirts – 60 minutes of free Moonshot coaching
  • A copy of ‘Space is open for business’ by Robert Jacobsen

Third Prize

  • Moonshot t-shirts
  • 60 minutes of free Moonshot coaching
  • A copy of ‘Space is open for business’ by Robert Jacobsen

Considerations and FAQs:

Technology

  • You’re building a Minimum Viable Product, you don’t need to build a fully functioning toilet – although if you managed to, we’d certainly be impressed!
  • For inspiration, have a look at some of the projects Bill Gates has worked on to solve this issue for Earth-based populations

Solution

  • You can focus more or less on different aspects of the solution space. For example, perhaps your skills will be more attuned to developing a smart waste management and tracking system in software rather than the physical toilet. Use the skills of your team to your advantage, and use your unique perspectives to think outside of the box in creating your unique solution.

Join our serverto enter the competition

Join our community below to join Bootcamp discussions and to prepare for the event. Share your thoughts, advertise your skills, and find a well-rounded team to register before launch on May 6.

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