Welcome to Phase 2 of the Deep Space Food Challenge
With a successful Phase 1 behind us where cross-disciplinary teams from around the globe come together to develop innovative concepts of food production systems, we are thrilled to announce the opening of Phase 2 in 2022!
For Context on Phase 1
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency aspire to provide future deep space explorers the technology to produce nutritious and tasty meals for long-duration space missions. The Deep Space Food Challenge calls on teams from the US, Canada, and internationally to design, build, and demonstrate prototypes of food production technologies that provide delicious, healthy foods.
In case you missed it, on October 2021, Phase 1 of the Deep Space Food Challenge culminated in NASA awarding 18 teams a total of $450,000 for their concepts for innovative food production technologies that produces safe, acceptable, palatable, nutritious food products that are stable and high quality, while minimizing necessary resource inputs. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency jointly recognized 10 international teams for their winning submissions. NASA’s supporting partner of the challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, sponsored two $25,000 awards given by Martha Stewart and former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly to international teams for their outstanding innovation. The Canadian Space Agency awarded 10 teams $30,000 CAD each to their winning teams.
What to Know About Phase 2
NASA invites both new and existing teams to build and demonstrate prototypes of their designs and produce food for judging. Interested participants from the United States can compete in Phase 2 for part of a prize purse up to $1 million. Competitors are asked to create a food production technology, system, or approach that could potentially be integrated into a complete food system to sustain a crew of four on a three-year deep space mission. Everything needed to store, prepare and deliver food to the crew, including production, processing, transport, consumption, and disposal of waste should be considered. Proposed technologies such as plant growth systems, manufactured food products, and ready-to-eat solutions combined could provide the future crews with a variety of options that would provide the needed daily nutrition.
All teams involved in Phase 1 of the challenge met the registration requirements to enter Phase 2. New teams are welcomed and highly encouraged to participate after providing the required registration information, due by February 28. Interested participants from the United States can compete for part of a prize purse of up to $1 million from NASA. The Canadian Space Agency is hosting a parallel competition with a separate application and judging process, as well as its own prize purse, for participating Canadian teams. Qualifying teams from other countries may compete but will not be eligible for monetary prizes.
Who We Are
The Deep Space Food Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within 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, manages the U.S. and international Deep Space Food Challenge competition.