Editor's Note : This press release was updated on November 10 to update the date and time of NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge TV show.
\r\nEditor's Note : This version was updated on October 22 to correct Bistromathic's name in the list of winning US teams.
\r\nEditor's Note : This version was updated on October 21 to correct the name of Kernel Deltech USA in the list of winning US teams.
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Variety, nutrition and taste are some of the considerations when developing food for astronauts. For NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge, students, chefs, small businesses and others created new food technology designs to bring new solutions to the table.
\r\nNASA has selected 18 US teams to receive a total of $450,000 for ideas that could feed astronauts on future missions. Each team will receive $25,000. In addition, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) jointly recognized 10 international entries.
\r\nNASA Television, the NASA app and the agency's website will air a program on the Deep Space Food Challenge at 3 p.m. EST on Monday, November 15, with details on the competition, winning solutions and what may come next for the teams.
\r\nSpecial guests during the show will include famed chef Martha Stewart and retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who will announce the winners of two awards honoring international teams that have demonstrated exceptional innovation. Other participants will include retired CSA astronaut Chris Hadfield and celebrity chef Lynn Crawford.
\r\n“NASA is excited to involve the public in developing technologies that can power our deep space explorers,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. “Our approach to human exploration of deep space is strengthened by new technological advances and diverse community contributions. This challenge helps us push the limits of exploration capabilities in ways we might not recognize on our own.”
\r\nNASA, in coordination with the CSA, opened the Deep Space Food Challenge in January. The competition asked innovators to design food production technologies or systems that met specific requirements: they would need to use minimal resources and produce minimal waste. The meals they produced had to be safe, nutritious and delicious for long-duration human exploration missions.
\r\nFor the US teams, the NASA judges grouped the entries based on the food they intended to produce. Among the projects were systems that used ingredients to create ready-to-eat foods, such as bread, as well as dehydrated powders that could be processed into more complex food products. Others involved cultivated plants and fungi or manipulated or cultivated foods, such as cultured meat cells.
\r\nDetails of entries and winning teams can be found on the challenge website.
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“These types of food systems can offer benefits on our home planet,” said Robyn Gatens, director of NASA's International Space Station Program and a judge of the challenge. ”The solutions to this challenge can open up new avenues for global food production in resource-poor regions and places where disasters disrupt critical infrastructure.”
\r\nIn coordination with the Canadian Space Agency, a NASA opened the Deep Space Food Challenge in january 2021.
\r\nCredits: NASA
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The winning teams from the USA, in alphabetical order, are:
\r\nAstra Gastronomia from San Francisco, California
\r\nBeeHex from Columbus, Ohio
\r\nBigRedBites from Ithaca, New York
\r\nBistromatica of Austin, Texas
\r\nCosmic Eats of Cary, North Carolina
\r\nDeep Space Entomoculture of Somerville, Massachusetts
\r\nFar Out Foods from St. Paul, Minnesota
\r\nHefvin of Bethesda, Maryland
\r\nInterstellar Laboratory of Los Angeles
\r\nKernel Deltech USA from Cabe Canaveral, Florida
\r\nMIDGE Project of La Crescenta-Montrose, California
\r\nMission: Space Food from Mountain View, California
\r\nNolux from Riverside, California
\r\nRADICLE-X from Brooklyn, New York
\r\nSIRONA NOMs from Golden, Colorado
\r\nSpace Bread of Hawthorne, Florida
\r\nSpace Lab Café from Boulder, Colorado
\r\nµBites from Carbondale, Illinois
\r\nThe CSA held a parallel competition with a separate entry, judging process and prize for the participating Canadian teams. The agency will announce its winners at a later date.
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Teams from outside the United States and Canada qualified for recognition, but were not eligible for cash prizes. The 10 international submissions recognized by NASA and CSA are:
\r\nALSEC Alimentos Secos SAS from Antioquia, Colombia
\r\nAmbar from Bucaramanga, Colombia
\r\nElectric Cow from Germany
\r\nEnigma del Cosmos from Écully, France and Brunswick, Australia
\r\nJPWORKS SRL from Milan, Italy
\r\nKEETA from Bangkok, Thailand
\r\nLTCOP from Piracicaba, Brazil
\r\nNatufia X Edama from Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
\r\nSolar Foods from Lappeenranta, Finland
\r\nπ from Ghaziabad, India
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Deep Space Food Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge. The Centennial Challenges are part of the Awards, Challenges and Crowdsourcing program of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington and are managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Subject matter experts at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida support the competition. NASA, in partnership with the Methuselah Foundation, runs the US and international Deep Space Food Challenge.
\r\nFor more information on NASA awards and challenges, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/solve
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Clare Skelly
\r\nHeadquarters, Washington
\r\n202-358-4273
\r\nclare.a.skelly@nasa.gov
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Molly Porter
\r\nMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
\r\n256-544-0034
\r\nmolly.a.porter@nasa.gov
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