MIT Students Win NASA Prize for Turning Moon Trash Into Tools

Imagine building a home on the moon, only to watch it slowly disappear under mountains of trash from supply shipments. That's the unglamorous problem NASA needs solved before humans can live on the lunar surface long-term.

Enter CERBERUZ, a team of MIT students who just won first prize in both categories of NASA's LunaRecycle Challenge. They built a system that grinds down packaging waste, melts it, and molds it into useful parts like tools and replacement equipment.

The timing couldn't be better. NASA's Artemis program plans to establish a permanent lunar outpost, which means regular supply deliveries from Earth. All that packaging has to go somewhere, and shipping is incredibly expensive at $10,000 per pound.

"Waste packaging materials will inevitably accumulate when a lunar outpost is built," says George Lordos, the team's lead advisor and MIT research scientist. Their solution tackles both problems at once: eliminate waste buildup while creating a local manufacturing supply.

The system works by separating trash into streams, grinding everything into fine powder, then using an injection molder to create new composite parts. The team nicknamed their molder PERSEPHONE, and it can handle materials that have no recycling solution even here on Earth.

One material they crack is Zotek F30, a foam used in aerospace packaging that's notoriously difficult to recycle. It's so lightweight that boxes the size of a person contain almost no usable mass. CERBERUZ figured out how to turn this bulky waste into reinforcing filler for their molded products.

The design respects lunar constraints. It uses only mechanical processes powered by electricity, avoiding water-intensive methods or chemicals that would create secondary waste. "We set out to build something that would actually make sense on the moon, not just in a lab," says team lead Lanie McKinney.

The team also built DEIMOS, a digital twin that predicts how different material combinations will behave during manufacturing. Astronauts could use it to test designs virtually before using precious resources on actual production.

The Ripple Effect

While designed for space, this technology could transform recycling on Earth too. Mixed plastics and thermoset foams currently end up in landfills because they're too difficult to process. CERBERUZ proves these "unrecyclable" materials can become valuable manufacturing feedstock.

The project grew from MIT's Space Resources Workshop, where students passionate about sustainable space exploration collaborate on real-world challenges. These weren't just theoretical designs. NASA's competition required working prototypes that could actually produce usable parts.

For the CERBERUZ team, success means future lunar residents won't choose between drowning in garbage or paying astronomical shipping costs. They'll have a third option: turning yesterday's trash into tomorrow's tools.