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NASA has awarded a total of $1.25 million to three U.S. teams in the third and final round of the agency\u2019s Deep Space Food Challenge. The teams delivered novel food production technologies that could provide long-duration human space exploration missions with safe, nutritious, and tasty food.<\/p>\n
The competitors\u2019 technologies address NASA\u2019s need for sustainable food systems for long-duration habitation in space, including future Artemis missions and eventual journeys to Mars. Advanced food systems also could benefit life on Earth and inspire food production in parts of the world that are prone to natural disasters, food insecurity, and extreme environments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Deep Space Food Challenge could serve as the framework for providing astronauts with healthy and delicious food using sustainable mechanisms,\u201d said Angela Herblet, challenge manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. \u201cThe challenge has brought together innovative and driven individuals from around the world who are passionate about creating new solutions that support our agency\u2019s future Moon to Mars missions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the challenge\u2019s launch in 2021, more than 300 teams from 32 countries have participated by submitting innovative food system designs. The competition, conceived and managed by NASA Centennial Challenges at NASA Marshall, is a first-of-its-kind coordinated effort between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), which ran its own challenge in parallel.<\/p>\n
Four American teams competed in Phase 3, which began in September 2023. The Methuselah Foundation partnered with Ohio State University to facilitate the final phase of the challenge, which included a two-month testing and demonstration period held on the university\u2019s campus in Columbus, Ohio. Each U.S. team in Phase 3 was awarded $50,000 and took their technology to Columbus for testing.<\/p>\n
Throughout this phase, the teams constructed full-scale food production systems that were required to pass developmental milestones like safety, sensory testing, palatability, and harvesting volumes. Each team worked with four \u201cSimunauts,\u201d a crew of Ohio State students who managed the testing and demonstrations for Phase 3 over the eight-week period. The data gathered from testing was delivered to a judging panel to determine the winner.<\/p>\n
The challenge concluded at the Deep Space Food Symposium, a two-day networking and learning summit at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on Aug. 15 and 16. Throughout the event, attendees met the Phase 3 finalists, witnessed demonstrations of the food production technologies, and attended panels featuring experts from NASA, government, industry, and academia. The winners of the challenge were announced at an awards ceremony at the end of the symposium.<\/p>\n
The U.S. winner and recipient of the $750,000 grand prize is Interstellar Lab of Merritt Island, Florida. Led by Barbara Belvisi, the small business combines several autonomous phytotrons and environment-controlled greenhouses to support a growth system involving a self-sustaining food production mechanism that generates fresh vegetables, microgreens, and insects necessary for micronutrients.<\/p>\n
Two runners-up each earned $250,000 for their food systems\u2019 successes: Nolux of Riverside, California, and SATED of Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n
Nolux, a university team led by Robert Jinkerson, constructed an artificial photosynthetic system that can create plant and fungal-based foods without the operation of biological photosynthesis.<\/p>\n
Standing for Safe Appliance, Tidy, Efficient & Delicious, SATED is a one-man team of Jim Sears, who developed a variety of customizable food, from pizza to peach cobbler. The product is fire-safe and was developed by long-shelf-life and in-situ grown ingredients.<\/p>\n
NASA also selected and recognized one international team as a Phase 3 winner: Solar Foods of Lappeenranta, Finland, developed a food production system through gas fermentation that relies on single-cell protein production.<\/p>\n
In April 2024, CSA and Impact Canada awarded the grand prize winner of its parallel challenge to Ecoation, a Vancouver-based small business specializing in greenhouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations to the winners and all the finalist teams for their many years dedicated to innovating solutions for the Deep Space Food Challenge,\u201d said Amy Kaminski, program executive for NASA\u2019s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cThese food production technologies could change the future of food accessibility on other worlds and our home planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also present at the symposium was celebrity chef and cookbook author Tyler Florence. After spending time with each finalist team and getting acquainted with their food systems, Florence selected one team to receive the \u201cTyler Florence Award for Culinary Innovation.\u201d Team SATED of Boulder, Colorado, received the honor for their system that impressed Florence due to its innovative approach to the challenge.<\/p>\n
The Deep Space Food Challenge, a\u00a0NASA Centennial Challenge, is a coordinated effort between\u00a0NASA\u00a0and CSA. Subject matter experts at\u00a0Johnson Space Center\u00a0in Houston and\u00a0Kennedy Space Center\u00a0in Florida, supported the competition. NASA\u2019s Centennial Challenges are part of the\u00a0Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program\u00a0within NASA\u2019s\u00a0Space Technology Mission Directorate\u00a0and managed at\u00a0Marshall Space Flight Center\u00a0in Huntsville, Alabama.\u00a0The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the United States and international competitors.<\/p>\n
To learn more about the Deep Space Food Challenge, visit:\u00a0<\/p>\n
nasa.gov\/spacefoodchallenge<\/strong><\/p>\n -end-<\/p>\n Jasmine Hopkins Lane Figueroa
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov<\/p>\n
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-932-1940
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov<\/p>\n<\/div>\n