One of the foremost problems of space exploration is resupply. Before we can engage in long-duration exploration and colonization of space, we need to resolve the issues of oxygen supply, CO2 scrubbing, water treatment, waste handling, and food production.

On planetary surfaces, all of these issues can be resolved by employing a single solution: aquaponics, which is a combination of hydroponics and fish farming. Of course, the same aquaponics machinery can also be used on Earth to solve these same problems— in remote environments, in your backyard, restaurant, or even on your countertop!

This is a premier team purpose-built from the ground up to compete in, and win, the Musk Foundation’s $100M Carbon Capture XPRIZE - https://www.xprize.org/prizes/elonmusk. XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at tackling the biggest threat facing humanity - fighting climate change and rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle. Funded by Elon Musk and his foundation, this $100M competition is the largest incentive prize in history, an extraordinary milestone.‎ This team is integrating industrial and biological processes to unlock operational efficiencies which will win this competition. The team is sponsored by the Texan aerospace and defense company Kepler Shipyards, with teams and activities anchored in the US and Canada with highly qualified personnel spread across the globe. Kepler ReCapture’s Management: team consists of Debi-Lee Wilkinson (Physics & Team Leader), Paul Graham (Research & Implementation): Dr. Nathan Going (Biology), Chris Barrett (Engineering), and Dr. Celeste Gale (Chemistry).

When we say “jumpsuit,” we’re not talking about 1970s fashion. We’re talking about a protective suit designed for jumping onto a planet’s surface from the outer atmosphere—the Earth’s, Mars’s, wherever. This has immediate practical applications: the OpenLuna project plans to use the as-yet untried sport of spacediving (parachuting from space) to return their explorers back to Earth’s surface. This is also being developed for military applications.

These both will require a suit that is specifically configured for this purpose from the Kepler Space Activity Suit common core. By designing and deploying this suit, we’ll become the founders of the first “super extreme” sport. We’ll also spin off the very first company to provide spacediving suits, equipment, and out-of-this-world adventures!

Named for both its originator, Micro-Space founder Richard Speck, and for its diminutive size. The standard Speck Lander system is designed to deliver and return 250kg, or to deliver 400kg on a one-way trip. That 250kg can be crew, cargo, or both—with no change in configuration required except for the inclusion or exclusion of the human control deck.

Once its job is done, the Speck can be disassembled and its components used in other configurations. It can even be converted into an Eagle.

We are currently building an on-Earth training model of the Speck lander that uses both electric fans or micro-turbine engines rather than rocket engines.

If humans are going to explore and eventually colonize other worlds, we’ll need a place to live, work, and recover—a home away from home. The two most immediate needs for any long-term expedition are a general-purpose shelter and workspace, and a form of life support (in other words, a way to procure food, water, and air).

To that end, we’re partnering with the OpenLuna foundation to develop their Mk 1 Outpost and Aquaponics Module for deployment on the lunar surface. We’ll also be building the Outposts for use on Earth as quick-deploy shelters for emergency situations and remote environments. We’ll be constructing Aquaponics Modules for use in areas where food and clean water are needed and cannot be provided by more conventional methods, such as developing areas or disaster sites.