In March 2023, MIT’s Lunar Forge proposal named “ARTEMIS Steelworks” – Advancing Reactor Technologies for the Electrolytic Manufacturing of In-situ Steel – was selected as a finalist for NASA’s 2023 BIG Idea Challenge to develop and build a proof of concept system for producing lunar steel from lunar regolith, using the Molten Regolith Electrolysis process.

The final results of the project were presented at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in November 2023 and received the 2023 NASA BIG Idea Challenge Big Picture Award.