Merritt Island-based Interstellar Labs won the grand prize and $750,000 for its entry into NASA and the Canadian Space Agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge, in which participants developed unique food production technologies for long-duration manned exploration missions.
Photo: NASA
In a press release announcing the award, Angela Herblet, NASA’s Centennial Challenges Challenge Manager and manager of the Deep Space Food Challenge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said, “The Deep Space Food Challenge could serve as a framework for providing astronauts with healthy and delicious food using sustainable mechanisms. The challenge has brought together innovative and motivated people from around the world who are passionate about developing new solutions that support our agency’s future Moon-to-Mars missions.”
Previously: NASA and Canadian Space Agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge enters final phase of competition
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced a competition in which companies were asked to provide astronauts on long-term missions with nutritious and tasty food. On the American side, the competition was reduced to five finalists, with three other international competitors completing the field. The aim of the competition, the Deep Space Food Challenge, was to develop novel technologies or systems for food production that require minimal resources and produce as little waste as possible, while creating products or dishes that are actually tasty for the crew.
The challenge culminated at the Deep Space Food Symposium, a two-day networking and learning summit at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on August 15 and 16 of this year.
Throughout the event, attendees met with Phase 3 finalists, saw demonstrations of food production technologies, and participated in panel discussions with experts from NASA, government, industry, and academia. Competition winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the end of the symposium.
Photo: LinkedIn
Led by Barbara Belvisi, founder and CEO of Interstellar Labs, the small company combined several autonomous phytotrons and environmentally controlled greenhouses to support a growing system with a self-sustaining food production mechanism that produces fresh vegetables, microgreens and the insects necessary for the micronutrients.
Previously: Interstellar Lab plans to grow roses on the moon
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Two other American and one international competitors also won awards: Nolux of Riverside, California, and SATED of Boulder, Colorado, each received $250,000 for their entries, and Solar Foods of Lappeenranta, Finland, also won an award.
“Congratulations to the winners and all the finalist teams for their years of work on innovative solutions for the Deep Space Food Challenge,” said Amy Kaminski, program manager for NASA Awards, Challenges and Crowdsourcing at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These food production technologies could change the future of food availability on other worlds and our home planet.”
