{"id":519763,"date":"2023-09-19T09:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?post_type=migration&p=519763"},"modified":"2024-05-31T12:07:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T16:07:03","slug":"nasa-begins-final-phase-of-3-million-deep-space-food-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-begins-final-phase-of-3-million-deep-space-food-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Begins Final Phase of $3 Million Deep Space Food Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Savannah Bullard<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Editor\u2019s note: This web article was updated May 31, 2024, to reflect new locations for the challenge\u2019s finalists to test their food production systems and meet other technology needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA is kicking off the final phase of a challenge to help feed the astronauts of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The agency\u2019s Deep Space Food Challenge seeks to create novel food production systems that offer safe, nutritious, and delicious food for long-duration human exploration missions, while being conscious of waste, resources, and labor. And closer to home, the challenge could benefit humanity by helping to address food scarcity problems on Earth. In the third and final phase of the challenge, NASA is offering a $1.5 million prize purse to winning U.S. teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe International Space Station is restocked every 60 to 90 days, and we are able to manage the waste generated from those payload deliveries,\u201d said Denise Morris, program manager for Centennial Challenges, which is managed out of NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. \u201cIn order to get to Mars and beyond, we must adapt how we feed our crews with no resupply, little added waste and resources, and an ideal level of labor. The solutions derived from the Deep Space Food Challenge will bridge this massive technology gap, allowing us to venture further and longer than we ever have before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"985\" height=\"657\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?w=985\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"A green apple and an orange are pictured floating in the International Space Station's cupola.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg 985w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?resize=900,600 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 985px) 100vw, 985px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">An apple and an orange float weightlessly in the International Space Station\u2019s cupola. Seen outside the cupola, is the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module which is attached to the Nauka science module. <\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\"><strong>Credits: NASA<\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Five U.S. and three international finalists, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-selects-winners-announces-final-phase-of-space-food-challenge\/\">which were announced in May<\/a>, are invited to test their food production systems as part of a simulated mission carried out by a crew of analog astronauts at the Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant. A joint venture between Voyager Space, Airbus, and Starlab LLC, the Pilot Plant is built to simulate what a research facility would look and operate like in a deep space environment. This facility operates within Howlett Hall on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio. The university is partnering with the Methuselah Foundation \u2013 which manages the challenge for NASA \u2013 to provide academic expertise and resources for the final phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A group of Ohio State undergraduate student \u201cSimunauts\u201d will act as a crew of analog astronauts to maintain and operate the food production technologies inside the Pilot Plant during an eight-week testing and demonstration period that will begin by summer 2024. Their reports will inform the judges\u2019 evaluation of the criteria, which includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Acceptability and safety of the production process and resulting food,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inputs\/outputs in relation to quantity of food produced, nutritional quality, and water use,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reliability of the food production technology, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stability of the input products and food outputs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIncorporating the Simunauts will demonstrate how much the teams’ technologies have been developed to consider the experience and impact to a potential future crew,\u201d said Angela Herblet, challenge manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. \u201cOne goal of the challenge is to yield food systems that aren’t too difficult for the crew, as our astronauts have plenty to do when they\u2019re on deep space missions. We want to make eating safe, healthy, tasty food as easy and enjoyable as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Simunaut crew will be selected and announced before the demonstrations are set to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA opened the first phase of the competition in 2021 as a first-of-its-kind coordinated effort with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asc-csa.gc.ca\/eng\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Canadian Space Agency<\/a>, which is running its own challenge in parallel. The derived solutions will ideally serve as blueprints for how to feed a crew of four astronauts for a three-year round-trip mission with no resupply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After 18 U.S. teams <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-announces-winners-of-deep-space-food-challenge\">were awarded<\/a> $25,000 each and 10 international teams were recognized as winners of the initial design phase, Phase 2 kicked off in January 2022, where returning and new teams developed their ideas into usable prototypes that were demonstrated for judges at their own labs and facilities. The teams produced samples of their food and provided a vision for Earth applications of their technologies, which were showcased at Smart Design in the Brooklyn Navy Yard during New York\u2019s NYCxDESIGN event in May 2023 as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-selects-winners-announces-final-phase-of-space-food-challenge\">Phase 2 winners\u2019 announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Phase 3 finalists that that can advance their prototypes and achieve approval from the judging panel to deliver to the Pilot Plant will each receive $50,000. At the end of the demonstration period, up to one top scoring U.S. team will win $750,000, and up to two runners up will each receive $250,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Deep Space Food Challenge, a <a href=\"http:\/\/nasa.gov\/winit\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA Centennial Challenge<\/a>, is a coordinated effort between <a href=\"http:\/\/nasa.gov\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA<\/a> and the Canadian Space Agency. Subject matter experts at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers\/johnson\/home\/index.html\">Johnson Space Center<\/a> in Houston, Texas and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers\/kennedy\/home\/index.html\">Kennedy Space Center<\/a> in Merritt Island, Florida <a>support<\/a> the competition. Centennial Challenges are part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/solve\/index.html\">Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program<\/a> within NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/home\/index.html\">Space Technology Mission Directorate<\/a> and are managed at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers\/marshall\/home\/index.html\">Marshall Space Flight Center<\/a> in Huntsville, Alabama. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mfoundation.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">The Methuselah Foundation<\/a>, in partnership with NASA, oversees the United States and international competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on the Deep Space Food Challenge, visit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nasa.gov\/spacefoodchallenge\" rel=\"noopener\">nasa.gov\/spacefoodchallenge<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jonathan Deal<br>\nMarshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.<br>\n256-544-0034<br>\n<a href=\"mailto:jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov\">jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Savannah Bullard Editor\u2019s note: This web article was updated May 31, 2024, to reflect new locations for the challenge\u2019s finalists to test their food production systems and meet other technology needs. NASA is kicking off the final phase of a challenge to help feed the astronauts of the future. The agency\u2019s Deep Space Food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":519836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2864,11536,12647,3343],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[8379],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Begins Final Phase of $3 Million Deep Space Food Challenge","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-begins-final-phase-of-3-million-deep-space-food-challenge\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-begins-final-phase-of-3-million-deep-space-food-challenge\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Beth Ridgeway"}],"creator":["Beth Ridgeway"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["NASA Directorates","Space Technology Mission Directorate","Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program","Marshall Space Flight Center","Centennial Challenges","Centennial Challenges News"],"dateCreated":"2023-09-19T13:49:00Z","datePublished":"2023-09-19T13:49:00Z","dateModified":"2024-05-31T16:07:03Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Begins Final Phase of $3 Million Deep Space Food Challenge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/nasa-begins-final-phase-of-3-million-deep-space-food-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2023-09-19T13:49:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"NASA Directorates,Space Technology Mission Directorate,Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program,Marshall Space Flight Center,Centennial Challenges,Centennial Challenges News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Beth Ridgeway\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"9 months","featured_image":{"id":519836,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/iss069e060591_0.jpg","title":"GMT227_22_59_Sultan Alneyadi_1154_Fresh fruits UAE USA flags from Cupola","alt":"A green apple and an orange are pictured floating in the International Space Station's cupola.","caption":"GMT227_22_59_Sultan Alneyadi_1154_Fresh fruits UAE USA flags from Cupola"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519763"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669341,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519763\/revisions\/669341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519763"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=519763"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=519763"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=519763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}