US space agency NASA is looking to identify “game changing ideas” that could revolutionise earth bound waste management systems in a way that aids future space travel.

As astronauts start to travel to distant planets and asteroids, any waste produced must be eliminated or transformed into new products as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

NASA has now teamed up with global sports brand Nike and two US government bodies on the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste Challenge, which seeks to identify up to 10 visionary ideas that could have practical applications for astronauts as well as the potential “to reduce and/or eliminate waste at a household, community, office building, campus, or industrial level”.

Innovations could include closed loop life cycles, waste-to-energy systems, and distributed waste management infrastructure, the organisations said.

Applications are welcome from all sizes of company, as well as consultants, entrepreneurs, inventors, non-profit organisations, research institutions, social enterprises, and venture capitalists.

The winners will have the opportunity to present their ideas to the LAUNCH Council, a group of 40 thought leaders in business, government, science, technology, and communications, as well as access to waste experts, business and governmental leaders, and investors at a conference in California.

Previous LAUNCH forums have focused on water, health and energy and produced innovations including a modular, flexible smart-grid distribution technology to provide access to power for those in need, and a simple, affordable fuel cell that converts biomass directly to electricity.

The latest challenge will be open for submissions from April 1 until May 15.