NASA and CSA Will Give $500,000 To The Best Idea of Food Production In Space

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency teamed up to look for brilliant ideas for food production in space, particularly in the upcoming Mars mission in 2024.

They are willing to give $500,000 for the best idea to help feed the astronauts on long-term space missions that are different from the dried and packaged food from Earth, Slash Gear reported.

This project is known as the Deep Space Food Challenge. Interested innovators have until May 28 to register, and NASA will award $25,000 for up to 20 teams.

Deep Space Food Challenge

Both NASA and CSA are trying to look for more feasible ways to use technology into bringing nutritious food into the spacecraft that will be used in the Artemis mission but also making sure that it will not weigh down or produce more waste.

Specifically speaking, the contest said that they are calling for innovators to find "palatable, nutritious, and safe foods that require little processing time for crew members." Fox News reported that the contest's website specified that this technology should be designed to feed a crew of up to four astronauts for three years.

"NASA has knowledge and capabilities in this area, but we know that technologies and ideas exist outside of the agency," said Grace Douglas, NASA lead scientist for advanced food technology at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"Raising awareness will help us reach people in a variety of disciplines that may hold the key to developing these new technologies," she added.

Importance of Fresh Produce to Astronauts

According to UPI, NASA has set a deadline until July 30 for teams to submit their ideas, the time when they will choose the idea.

The Deep Space Food Challenge was inspired by the problems that astronauts face with food boredom aboard the International Space Station, the news outlet reported.

Douglas wrote in a paper in 2020 that astronauts report that the fresh fruits and vegetables and some semi-shelf-stable specialty items brought to them several times a year gives them a profound psychological benefit.

Douglas wrote a paper in 2020 with two colleagues, published in the Journal of Nutrition, that outlined the problems astronauts face with food boredom aboard the International Space Station.

Moreover, the paper outlined the efforts of astronauts in producing food in space, including the limited cultivation of greens and radishes. They have also started experimenting with yeast to grow nutrients that supplement the diets of astronauts, but none of these could provide a significant volume of food to the astronauts.

Last year, astronauts aboard the ISS have already harvested the first radish grown in space, which they were able to eat some before sending most of it back to Earth.

Douglas warned that NASA might not be able to provide the same to deep space missions in the future because the fastest possible roundtrip is about 250 days, making resupply nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, Science Times previously reported that the Mars City® platform had launched an annual challenge of Mars City Design Challenges to promote Marschitecture that encourages innovators to design architecture that balances Urban Farming on Mars.

Competitions such as this and the Deep Space Food Challenge could perhaps someday make the dream of creating a Mars colony possible in the future.

Check out more news and information on NASA Mars Mission on Science Times.