Food for astronauts: NASA launches a ban

How do you make astronauts eat in space? NASA has launched an invitation called “Deep Space Food Challenge.”

Sure, the food problem is serious from Earth’s perspective, but it’s even more pressing in space, precisely because NASA is moving forward with preparing the first SLS rockets for Artemis missions, hoping to carry out the first launches between 2023 and 2024 for the purpose of returning to the Moon. In collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency, the US Space Agency has launched a call called the “Deep Space Food Challenge” to collect the best ideas to “feed” astronauts in space in anticipation of the first multi-year mission to Mars. It will be necessary to provide the astronauts with adequate food.

Jim Reuter, director of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, explains, “Feeding astronauts for extended periods within the confines of space travel will require innovative solutions. Pushing the boundaries of food technology will keep future explorers healthy and may even help feed people here at home.” . In other words, it is necessary to find innovative solutions and new technologies to give the world and astronauts new forms of food.

In the context of the Deep Space Food Challenge, competitors will have to create a food production technology, system or approach that can be integrated into an entire diet to support a crew of four on a mission to space. Three years deep.
This means evaluating everything needed to store, prepare and deliver food, from production to waste disposal. Already in 2021 the “first stage” of this same challenge was held, with a final prize of 450 thousand dollars for the winning team. Also this year, teams that did not win will be able to participate in the competition along with the new teams, by submitting registration information by February 28.

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