Being an astronaut sounds very stressful. You have to keep the spacecraft flying straight so you don’t run into space junk, you have to keep an enemy alien from bursting through your hull, and you have to eat all kinds of weird freeze-dried meals. As it turns out, those boring space meals are taking their toll – which is why NASA is willing to hand out up to $ 500,000 for a good idea that will allow astronauts to grow and eat fresh food in space on extended space missions.
UPI reports that NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have teamed up for the Deep Space Food Challenge, where participants can win prize money for their ideas about transportation, production and distribution of fresh food in space. You can find all the details on the Deep Space Food Challenge website, including the challenge timeline. (Hint: Phase I registration closes on May 28, with submissions due July 30.) According to the challenge website, up to 20 top-scoring US teams will each receive $ 25,000 from NASA before entering Phase 2. The website is unclear about the prize for winning phase 2, but it does specify “up to $ 500,000”. Also some pretty good bragging rights.
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Before you get too excited, keep in mind that a particular spacecraft has minimal resources, space, and amenities to prepare a tasty meal. Astronauts also don’t have much time to grow or prepare their own food. Finally, NASA has tried and failed several times to grow food in space, including vegetables, radishes, and various nutrients grown with yeast. Do you think you can handle the task? Teams from the US, Canada and beyond can now register online. If you win, your idea can boldly go where no salad has gone before.
Originally published