NASA has awarded a total of $1.25 million to three U.S. teams in the final round of the Deep Space Food Challenge, a competition aimed at developing innovative food production technologies for long-duration space missions. The challenge seeks to ensure that future astronauts, including those on Artemis missions and eventual Mars expeditions, have access to safe, nutritious, and palatable food, while also offering potential solutions for food production on Earth, particularly in regions affected by natural disasters, food insecurity, and extreme environments.
The Deep Space Food Challenge, launched in 2021 by NASA Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is a unique initiative in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Over 300 teams from 32 countries participated in the competition, showcasing cutting-edge food system designs that could revolutionize how food is produced in space and on Earth.
The third and final phase of the challenge, which began in September 2023, saw four American teams compete for the top prize. The Methuselah Foundation partnered with Ohio State University to facilitate this phase, which included a rigorous two-month testing and demonstration period on the university’s campus in Columbus, Ohio. Each participating U.S. team was awarded $50,000 to build and test their food production systems under real-world conditions.
During this phase, the teams worked with a crew of Ohio State students, known as “Simunauts,” who managed the testing and demonstrations. The food systems were evaluated on several criteria, including safety, sensory testing, palatability, and harvesting capabilities. The data collected was then reviewed by a panel of judges to determine the winners.
The competition concluded with the Deep Space Food Symposium, a two-day event held on August 15 and 16 at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. The symposium featured networking opportunities, panel discussions with experts from NASA, government, industry, and academia, and demonstrations of the finalist teams’ technologies. The winners were announced during an awards ceremony at the end of the event.
Interstellar Lab of Merritt Island, Florida, emerged as the U.S. winner, earning the $750,000 grand prize. Led by Barbara Belvisi, Interstellar Lab developed a self-sustaining food production system that integrates autonomous phytotrons and environment-controlled greenhouses to produce fresh vegetables, microgreens, and insects, all essential for maintaining micronutrient levels in space.
Two runner-up teams, Nolux of Riverside, California, and SATED of Boulder, Colorado, each received $250,000. Nolux, a university team led by Robert Jinkerson, created an artificial photosynthetic system capable of producing plant and fungal-based foods without relying on biological photosynthesis. SATED, represented by Jim Sears, developed a customizable food production system that can create various meals, from pizza to peach cobbler, using long-shelf-life and in-situ grown ingredients. The system is also fire-safe, a critical feature for space environments.
In addition to the U.S. teams, one international team was recognized: Solar Foods of Lappeenranta, Finland, which developed a food production system using gas fermentation to produce single-cell protein. This technology earned them recognition as a Phase 3 winner.
Earlier in April 2024, CSA and Impact Canada awarded their grand prize to Ecoation, a small business from Vancouver specializing in greenhouse technologies.
Amy Kaminski, program executive for NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing at NASA Headquarters in Washington, congratulated all the participants, emphasizing the potential impact of these food production technologies on future space missions and food accessibility on Earth.
The symposium also featured celebrity chef and cookbook author Tyler Florence, who presented the “Tyler Florence Award for Culinary Innovation” to Team SATED for their impressive and innovative approach to the challenge.
The Deep Space Food Challenge, part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, is managed by the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, with support from subject matter experts at Johnson Space Center in Houston and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Methuselah Foundation, in collaboration with NASA, oversees the competition for both U.S. and international participants.–News Desk