NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have launched a public competition seeking "ideas for novel food production technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste, while providing safe, nutritious, and tasty food for long-duration human exploration missions." Up to 20 winners in the US will receive $25,000 prizes. Canada is offering its own prizes, while "international participants can join for recognition awards."
According to NASA, "solutions from this challenge could enable new avenues for food production around the world, especially in extreme environments, resource-scarce regions, and in new places like urban areas and in locations where disasters disrupt critical infrastructure."
From Food & Wine:
"NASA has knowledge and capabilities in this area, but we know that technologies and ideas exist outside of the agency," Grace Douglas, NASA's lead scientist for advanced food technology at Johnson Space Center, told UPI. "Raising awareness will help us reach people in a variety of disciplines that may hold the key to developing these new technologies."
Douglas has researched and written about the challenges that astronauts can face, which range from "food boredom" to the inability to have enough hot water to rehydrate shelf-stable meals during lengthy missions. Although resupply vehicles have been able to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to the International Space Station—items the crew says provide "profound psychological benefits"—that won't be possible if and when NASA sends a crew to Mars.
