Summary: The contest is a workforce-development initiative that is now in its 33rd year. Housed in the College of Engineering at NMSU, undergraduate teams are invited from across the country for an "Engineering Education Experience of a Lifetime." Students assume the role of engineers answering an engineering RFP and solve some of the world's greatest environmental challenges based on real-world parameters. This year, we are excited to offer the NASA-designed task, "Long-term water storage without using biocides."  At the contest, teams are challenged to build working bench-scale models that demonstrate their innovative designs. Practicing engineers serve as judges and mentors at the contest, further teaching students about practical implementation of their designs.  

TASK 6

NASA: Long-term Water Storage in Spacecraft without Biocides

Task proposed by NASA

Task sponsored by New Mexico Space Grant Consortium

Background

In preparation for the Artemis program’s Lunar and Mars missions, NASA challenges you to design a means of indefinitely ensuring the potability of stored water supplies on a spacecraft or a planetary base without using biocides

Problem statement

Your team will research, evaluate, and design a means of storing 2400 liters of potable water indefinitely on a spacecraft or a planetary base without using technologies, such as biocides, that would require maintenance during periods of dormancy.

Teams are given full design freedom for the scaled-up water-storage and or water-delivery design, including materials used.

Teams are urged to be innovative in their approach and consider physical, chemical, or thermal means of achieving the desired results.