A student-led Massachusetts Institute of Technology team has won the top prize in NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge with a system designed to turn mixed space-mission trash into material for new parts.
How the winning system works
The project is called CERBERUZ, short for Composites for Extraterrestrial Recycling By Engineering the Reuse and Upcycling of Zotek. NASA says the system grinds mixed waste into a fine powder instead of requiring every fabric, plastic, foam or metal component to be perfectly separated first.
The powder can then become feedstock for injection-molded parts or 3D-printing filament. The team treated Zotek foam as a reinforcing material rather than contamination, an approach intended to make processing more practical when astronauts have limited space, energy and time.
A $775,000 result
The MIT team won both the prototype-development track and the digital-twin track, receiving $775,000 in awards. A digital twin is a virtual model used to simulate and evaluate how a physical recycling system performs.
Fourteen finalist teams demonstrated their prototypes at the University of Alabama from August 24 through August 28. NASA also recognized projects for innovation, mass efficiency, the number of waste types processed and public voting.
Why recycling matters beyond the novelty
On Earth, throwing something away usually means moving it somewhere else. On a lunar base or deep-space mission, every kilogram launched is expensive, storage is limited and replacement supplies may take months to arrive. Waste can therefore become a resource if crews can process it safely and reliably.
The winning prototype is not automatically a flight-ready machine. It would still need testing for reliability, power use, maintenance, contamination control and operation in lunar conditions. NASA designed the competition to identify promising ideas that can be developed further.
The technology could also have Earth applications where mixed materials are difficult to sort or transport. That possibility helps explain why the competition attracted more than 1,200 registrations during its first phase, a record for NASA’s Centennial Challenges program.
Source: NASA’s LunaRecycle results published August 28, 2026. Photo: NASA/Savannah Bullard, a United States government work.
Leon Ramoviq
Primary Author · Editorial Reviewer · Researcher Leon Ramoviq is a digital media researcher, content creator, and primary author at Smashology Media. His work focuses on researching, verifying, and developing stories across entertainment, culture, sports, internet trends, curiosity-driven topics, and viral news. Before publishing, Leon reviews sources, cross-checks key claims, and works to ensure that articles are clear, accurately represented, and based on reliable information rather than unverified social-media speculation. With experience in digital media, graphic design, social media content, and online audience engagement, he brings both an editorial and visual perspective to the stories published on Smashology. Leon is particularly interested in how stories spread online, why certain topics capture public attention, and how complex or trending information can be presented in a simple and engaging format. Role at Smashology As a primary author and researcher, Leon is involved in: • Researching stories and identifying original or reliable sources • Writing and developing articles for Smashology • Reviewing facts, names, dates, quotations, and contextual information • Checking stories for misleading or unsupported claims • Reviewing articles before publication • Following developments and updating stories when meaningful new information becomes available • Maintaining editorial consistency across Smashology content Editorial Approach Leon believes engaging content should not come at the expense of accuracy. His approach is to combine strong storytelling with responsible sourcing, clear attribution, and additional verification when a story originates from social media or rapidly developing online discussions.
