There are several developments in the space sector right now, one of which is the effort to colonize Mars. However, this project has quite a few obstacles with energy burnout being a major factor. This is where a Caltech contest comes in where students are being asked to design a refueling unit on the Moon, which could serve as a jump point for the Mars mission.

The contest in question is the Caltech Space Challenge and it involves 32 students tasked to present a solution to one of the most challenging aspects of space travel; fuel. The students were then split into two teams and were given only five days to devise a way to put refueling stations on the Moon.

Now, there are numerous reasons for wanting to put what essentially amounts to a gas station in outer space. The biggest of which is to provide any interstellar missions the means to actually complete them. Escaping the Earth’s gravity takes a whole lot of energy, which burns much of the fuel that spaceships are loaded with. By having a refueling station on the Moon, ships can just dock there and return to deep space.

Speaking to The Conversation, five students participating in the contest revealed the process that goes into developing a concept like this and what it could mean for the future of space travel. Aside from the main concern of actually getting off the planet in the first place, which comes with no small amount of danger, there is also the cost to think about.

Repeat missions in deep space come with lots of expenses, but they can get much cheaper when the ships can just stay on the Moon instead of having to come back to Earth every single time. Coupled with reusable rockets that SpaceX has developed, this could make commercial space travel considerably more sustainable.