NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge InterstellarLab Wins with Innovative Food Production System

TapTechNews August 26th news, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a public competition named Deep Space Food Challenge in 2021, aiming to encourage the public to develop food production technologies suitable for the space environment. After three years of intense competition, finally, the InterstellarLab company in Florida won the championship and received a prize of 750,000 US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 5,349,000 Chinese yuan).

The challenge was jointly hosted by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), attracting more than 300 teams from 32 countries to participate. The competition was divided into three stages, and the final stage began in September 2023. Four US teams entered the finals, and they needed to build a complete food production system model and demonstrate its working principle.

The final was held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, lasting for two months. The participating teams tested and demonstrated their technologies on the university campus and needed to meet a series of requirements, including the palatability, safety, sensory tests, and harvest amount of food, etc.. Each team had a group of students from The Ohio State University, known as Simunauts, responsible for the entire process and collecting information to report to the jury.

The InterstellarLab company won the final victory with its innovative plan of creating plant-based space food using artificial intelligence, advanced equipment, and bioscience technology. Their food production system can be self-sufficient, producing microgreens, vegetables, and even insects to provide the required micronutrients.

The Nolux team composed of researchers from the University of California, Riverside, won the second place and received a prize of 250,000 US dollars (currently about 1,783,000 Chinese yuan). They developed an artificial photosynthesis system that can produce plant and fungal foods without biological photosynthesis. Another runner-up who received 250,000 US dollars was Jim Sears, who independently developed a device named SATED that can produce a variety of custom foods, including peach scones and pizza. These products are fireproof and combine in-situ grown ingredients and ingredients with a longer shelf life.