NASA, partners offering $500K for development of new technologies to feed astronauts in deep space

Calling all scientific foodies with an eye on the skies.

NASA is looking for a little next-frontier technology to help feed astronauts more efficiently in space, and as many as 20 teams could earned a combined $500,000 for their contributions.

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Specifically, NASA has partnered with the Canadian Space Agency and the Privy Council Office to launch “The Deep Space Food Challenge,” a competition designed to yield “novel and game-changing food technologies or systems that require minimal inputs and maximize safe, nutritious and palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions.”

Food & Wine summed it up succinctly: “Basically, they’re looking for easy-to-prep space food that hasn’t been freeze dried and isn’t served in a little foil pouch.”

Per the challenge’s official website, the technology must provide a crew of up to four astronauts for a three-year span with “palatable, nutritious, and safe foods that require little processing time for crew members.”

The deadline to register is May 28, and as many as 20 top-scoring teams could win $25,000 each plus an invitation to continue developing their ideas in a second phase, Food & Wine reported.

Cox Media Group