Ohio State hosts NASA contest seeking ideas to better feed astronauts

Space and farming don't exactly seem to go together at first glance.

For one, there's no rain in space. Or soil. Or sunshine, pollinators and gravity — things needed to grow produce here on Earth. Without these, there isn't much hope of growing anything.

But it's a challenge that spaceflight experts, professors, researchers and commercial industries are trying to solve: How do we feed astronauts in space?

"This is a really hard problem," said John Horack, professor and Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy at Ohio State University. "It's hard to replace rain, soil and sunshine, and not everybody has a green thumb."

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It's a quandary that not only impacts current operations, but it's a limiting factor in pursuing future deep-space missions. No food for astronauts means no long-term human spaceflight.

One effort to help solve this problem is NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge , the third and final phase of which was co-hosted by Ohio State last week.

Deep Space Food Challenge aims to better feed astronauts in space

In 2019, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency launched the Deep Space Food Challenge, a multi-year international competition to develop sustainable food systems for long-term space missions, including on the moon and Mars.

More than 300 teams from 32 countries participated in the contest and pitched their ideas for innovative food systems. The third and final phase of the challenge culminated on Aug. 16 at Ohio State. Winners across all three phases were awarded a total of $3 million.

“We’re going to need a roadmap for the food systems we’re trying to achieve and this is something that national space agencies can’t do themselves,” Tor Blomqvist, a food researcher at the German Aerospace Center, said during one of the panel discussions.

The solution, Blomqvist said, is to inspire cooperation between the private and public sectors.

The competition was not limited to "just career space people," Horack said. Anyone could enter, from small businesses and academics to farmers and independent inventors (including one Colorado man who built his product in his home garage.)

Robyn Gatens, director of International Space Station for Space Operations, said that the variety of teams competing shows the breadth of this problem and the potential ideas to solve it.

"You never know what ideas are out there," she said.

Who won NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge?

During the two-day event, students, scientists and government representatives held panel discussions about how to develop sustainable food systems for long-duration human exploration. The seven finalist teams also presented their prototypes, which were tested by Ohio State student "simunauts" — or simulated analog astronauts — during an eight-week period.

The student crews tested each of the designs to see which could best offer safe, nutritious and delicious food for deep-space missions while also being conscious of waste, resources and labor.

Three teams took home the grand prize: Interstellar Lab received $750,000, while two semi-finalists Nolux and SATED each received $250,000.

Interstellar Labs developed a modular bioregenerative system for producing microgreens, vegetables, mushrooms and insects. The prototype — which looks like nine boxy mini-fridges stacked on top of each other like a high-tech Ikea unit — that could be homed on a space station for astronauts to grow their own food.

Nolux designed a product that mimics photosynthesis to grow plant- and mushroom-based products in space.

SATED (which stands for Safe Appliance, Tidy, Efficient and Delicious) developed a space-safe cooking appliance that could allow astronauts to cook in zero gravity using shelf-stable ingredients. The appliance was originally invented by Jim Sears in his Colorado garage for mining. He later realized that his invention could have other applications.

At the Ohio State event, Sears' daughter, Roxanne, whipped up batches of lemon blueberry cake using store-bought cake mix and freeze-dried eggs in the appliance. It's a treat, she said, that any astronaut would love to remind them of home.

"My dad is just a geeky inventor guy," Roxanne Sears said. "But he's made something that makes it completely possible for astronauts to cook and eat in space."

Ohio State is on the forefront of space agriculture

Ohio State was a prime candidate to host the Deep Space Food Challenge finale, Horack said.

Not only does Ohio have a rich history with human spaceflight, the university is also involved in a number of aerospace programs, including the establishment of the George Washington Carver Science Park .

The science park, established by Voyager Space Holdings and Ohio State, will house both commercial and university research projects, and is key in developing Starlab — the first private-owned, commercial-operated space station in low-Earth orbit.

Starlab will replace the International Space Station, which will be retired in 2030.

Ohio State is also involved in agricultural research that could one day directly impact deep-space food solutions. Experiments at the university's Controlled Environment Agriculture Research Complex greenhouses, for instance, are testing hydroponics, a technique of growing plants using water-based nutrient solutions rather than soil.

Some of the experiments run by Ohio State researchers and students have produced longer growing seasons and yields 10-times greater than just growing produce in the ground.

While not all of Ohio State agricultural research is designed to help space farming, Horack said there are implications both ways. He takes heart in the belief that learning to grow food in space will better help future generations grow food on Earth.

"Space is in one way its own unique domain. It's a unifier and an inspirational place," Horack said. "But all disciplines can be advanced by using space as a laboratory."

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here .

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State hosts NASA contest seeking ideas to better feed astronauts