Outer Space is awesome. Helping combat world hunger is awesome. Now, putting them together… that’s really awesome, and two students from the University of Illinois are doing just that.
The Daily Illini reported last week that students Alex Darragh and Matt Steinlauf and their team, Regolith Revolution, have been chosen as finalists in the Lab2Moon challenge created by TeamIndus, a private aerospace research orgnaization in India. To be entered, the duo created a small lunar greenhouse, complete with seeds, water, and fertilizer, which they hope will allow crops on the moon.
The Lab2Moon challenge was created to find youths to work with TeamIndus on Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge. The Google Lunar XPRIZE is a worldwide competition, and the goal for the competition is to find innovative ways of producing food and to combat the growing problem of world hunger.
The team was flown out to India in March to present their prototype, and out of all the teams offered a spot on TeamIndus, they were the only American team selected.
In order to finalize their spot, the team must find a sponsor to cover the $750,000 fee by April 15th.
Good luck Regolith Revolution!
Photo Courtesy of Daily Illini