Do you want to make food outside this world?NASA offers $ 1 million to those who achieve it

While NASA prepares to send astronauts further than ever in the cosmos, the agency intends to improve the production of a fundamental fuel source: food.Providing future explorers of the technology necessary to produce nutritional, tasty and satisfactory meals in long -term space missions will give them the energy necessary to discover the most unknown.

In coordination with the Canadian space agency, NASA makes a call to the public to help develop technologies or production systems of innovative and sustainable foods that require a minimum of resources and produce a minimum of waste.

Baptized as Deep Space Food Challenge, the contest asks the equipment to design, build and demonstrate prototypes of food production technologies that provide tangible nutritional products, that is, food.

Over time, foods lose their nutritional value.This means that, for a mission of several years to Mars, bringing pre -ined food will not cover all the needs to maintain the health of astronauts, NASA said in a press release.

In addition, food insecurity is an important and chronic problem on Earth, both in urban and rural communities.Catastrophes that interrupt supply chains further aggravate food shortage.

Therefore, NASA considers that the development of compact and innovative solutions of advanced food systems through initiatives such as the Deep Space Food Challenge could have applications in local food production at home and community, providing new solutions forhumanitarian responses to floods and droughts, and new technologies for rapid deployment after disasters.

"Feeding astronauts for long periods within the limitations of space trips will require innovative solutions," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of the NASA Space Technology Missions Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington."Push the limits of food technology will keep future explorers healthy and could even help feed people here at home".

In October 2021, Phase 1 of the challenge culminated when NASA rewarded 18 equipment with a total of $ 450,000 for its concepts of innovative food production technology that produce safe, acceptable, appetizing and nutritious food production technology, while minimizing the necessary resource inputs.

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency jointly recognized 10 international teams for their winning proposals.The Methuselah Foundation, NASA collaborator in the challenge, sponsored two $ 25,000 awards for international teams for its outstanding innovation.The Canadian space agency awarded 10 teams with 30,000 Canadian dollars each for their winning proposals.

NASA now invites both new and existing teams to participate in the second phase, which will require the teams to build and demonstrate prototypes of their designs and produce food to be judged.

Interested participants in the United States can compete in phase 2 on the one hand of the awards for up to one million dollars.

"We are very happy to continue collaborating with the Canadian space agency to carry out the next phase of this challenge and identify solutions from around the world," said Reuter.

The contest

The Deep Space Food Challenge asks competitors to create a technology, a system or a food production approach that can be integrated into a complete food system to keep a crew of four people in a three -year mission in deep space in the space.

Everything necessary to store, prepare and supply food to the crew should be considered, including production, processing, transport, consumption and removal of waste.

Proposed technologies, such as plant growth systems, manufactured food products and solutions for consumption, combined, could provide future crews with a variety of options that would provide them with the necessary daily nutrition.

In phase 1, NASA judges grouped the US proposals based on the foods that were expected to produce.Among the designs there were a variety of systems that went from the most complex to the simplest.

The equipment proposed technologies to produce food ready for consumption, such as bread, as well as dehydrated powders that could be transformed into food products.Other technologies consisted of the cultivation of plants and fungi or the elaboration of foods such as cultivated meat cells, all of which could be cultivated or produced by the crew in missions to deep space.Details about the proposals and winning teams can be found on the challenge website.

All teams that participated in phase 1 of the challenge met the registration requirements to enter phase 2.

The new teams are welcome and are encouraged to participate after providing the required registration information, which must be made before February 28.The United States interested participants can compete for the awards for up to one million dollars from NASA.

For more information about NASA's awards and challenges, visit: https: // www.pot.Gov/Solve