Feeding Tomorrow’s Astronauts with the Deep Space Food Challenge

To boldly go where no human has gone before, we’ll need new and better ways to eat in space.

Over time, food loses its nutritional value. That means for a multi-year mission to Mars, bringing along pre-packaged food will not meet all the needs for maintaining astronaut health.

The Deep Space Food Challenge asks teams to design, build, and demonstrate prototypes of food production technologies that provide tangible nutritional products–or food–that may someday be used to keep future explorers healthy on long-term space missions. Food technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste could also be put to use on Earth, such as in individual homes and communities, or during humanitarian missions, like disaster relief.

We’re inviting teams around the world to help develop innovative and sustainable food production technologies in Phase 2 of the Deep Space Food Challenge. Interested participants from the United States can compete for part of a prize purse up to $1 million. Think you have what it takes to feed tomorrow’s astronauts?

One Year Under Biden-Harris – In the first year of the Biden Administration, NASA has made valuable contributions to the administration’s goals: leading on the global stage, addressing the urgent issue of climate change, creating high-paying jobs, and inspiring future generations. Take a look back at some of the past year's highlights.

Hardware, Experiments Return to Earth – A SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft is set to depart the International Space Station Saturday, Jan. 22, carrying more than 4,900 pounds of supplies and valuable scientific experiments back to Earth. Live broadcast of the spacecraft’s undocking and departure will begin at 10:15 a.m. EST.

Meet Taylor Hose, who works as a flight vehicle processing technician at our Kennedy Space Center.

“I can’t begin to express how much I’ve learned...Starting out as a technician, the hands-on work helps me to view problems in a different manner. It has changed the way I think.”

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron took this photograph Jan. 9, 2022, as she peered out from a window inside the International Space Station's cupola. Prominent station components visible in this image include the Kibo laboratory module and its external pallet, the Japanese robotic arm, and the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module.