To resolve the issue of feeding astronauts on long-duration missions, NASA began the Deep Space Food Challenge in January 2021, asking firms to suggest novel methods to develop sustainable meals for future missions. About 200 firms entered—a discipline that was whittled all the way down to 11 groups in January 2023 as a part of section 2, with eight US groups every given $20,000 in funding and three further worldwide groups additionally acknowledged. On May 19, NASA is ready to announce the groups that may progress into the ultimate section of the competition, with a handful of winners to be introduced in April 2024 following extra detailed assessments of their proposals.
“Phase 2 was kind of a kitchen-level demonstration,” says Angela Herblet at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, the challenge supervisor for the problem. “Phase 3 is going to challenge the teams to scale their technologies.”
Entrants needed to present methods that might function for 3 years and feed a crew of 4 on a potential area mission. The proposals didn’t want to provide a crew’s complete weight-reduction plan, however they did have to create a wide range of nutritious meals for the astronauts. Earlier this yr, judges then visited every firm to “see the food and really analyze it,” says Herblet.
One firm took a very uncommon method to the duty. Air Company, primarily based in New York and one of many eight US-based finalists, designed a system that might use the carbon dioxide expelled by astronauts in area to supply alcohol, which might then be used to develop edible meals. The firm already develops alcohols from CO2 for aircraft gasoline and fragrance.
“It’s making food out of air,” says Stafford Sheehan, cofounder and chief expertise officer of Air Company. “It sounds like magic, but when you see it actually operating, it’s much more simple. We’re taking CO2, combining it with water and electricity, and making proteins.”
AIR COMPANY
The course of produces alcohol that may then be fed to yeast, producing “something that’s edible,” says Sheehan. For the competitors they created basically a protein shake, described as being much like one produced from seitan, a vegan meat substitute. “It actually tastes pretty good,” says Sheehan. For astronauts in area, the system would ferment repeatedly to provide meals. “Whenever you feel like you want a space protein shake, you make one from this yeast that’s growing,” says Sheehan.