MIT CERBERUZ team advances to final phase in NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge

The MIT student team formed in AeroAstro’s Space Resources Workshop has earned Phase II Milestone prizes in both the Prototype and Digital Twin tracks of NASA’s LunaRecycle Centennial Challenge, advancing to a live final demonstration this summer. 

The challenge asks participants to design and develop recycling solutions that can reduce non-metabolic waste and improve the sustainability of longer-term lunar missions. The MIT team’s solution, CERBERUZ (Composites for Extraterrestrial Recycling By Engineering the Reuse and Upcycling of Zotek), delivers a fully integrated recycling and manufacturing pipeline for some of the Moon’s most difficult waste streams: thermoset foams and mixed thermoplastics. The system breaks down the waste into powder and then remakes it into parts using injection molding and 3D printing. This approach can transform waste into tools, life-support components, and other essential items for a lunar outpost.

The team also developed a companion digital twin called DEIMOS (Digital Environment for Intelligent Modeling of Operational Systems) that models the behavior of their injection molding machine, known as PERSEPHONE, in real time. DEIMOS can predict mold fill levels, warpage, and shrinkage risk for any combination of input material and output geometry. The team is now hybridizing their digital twin, combining their physics-based model with machine-learning using training data collected by the physical prototyping subteam, to predict additional material properties.

The team put together a short video about CERBERUZ and its features for the competition:

Over the next few months, the challenge teams will refine their prototypes and digital twins ahead of the final demonstration event, which will be held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in August 2026. CERBERUZ team members hope to earn prize money to support future student work in the Space Resources Workshop.

The team comprises students from four MIT departments: AeroAstro, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Materials Science and Engineering. 

Team lead: Lanie McKinney, AeroAstro
Physical Prototyping Subteam: 

• Manufacturing: Palak Pate (lead, MechE), Sophia Augier (MechE), Jessica Meza (MechE), Avishai Jeselsohn (MechE), Giuliana Pertuz (MechE), Sophie Bergkvist (AeroAstro), Brady Cruse (EECS), Ariella Blackman (AeroAstro), Uma Kirk (MechE)
• Pre-processing: Jose Soto (lead, AeroAstro), Christopher Kwon (AeroAstro), Keira Boone, Seth Burrowes, Constantine Bulavenko, Hillel Dei (AeroAstro)
• Materials Characterization and Testing: Palak Patel (lead, MechE), Christopher Kwon (AeroAstro), Keira Boone, Constantine Bulavenko

Digital Twin Development Subteam: Lilly Etzenbach (lead, AeroAstro), Mollie Johnson (AeroAstro), Jordan Prawira (AeroAstro)

The team’s faculty advisors are Dr. George Lordos, a research scientist in AeroAstro and MIT System Design and Management; Professor John Hart (MechE); and Professor Jeffrey Hoffman (AeroAstro).