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Human space exploration has been limited to low-Earth orbit for decades, just that period of stagnation is coming to an end. NASA aims to return humans to the moon in the coming decade, and the goal is to set up a long-term presence in that location to help with future missions to Mars. There are rockets, infinite stations, and other equipment in evolution, just the food menu is all the same sparse. To remedy this NASA has announced a new round of the Deep Space Food Claiming, and this circular of the contest comes with $i million in prizes for teams that can come up up with innovative foods that tin can be prepared in infinite.

To address this, NASA partnered with the Canadian Infinite Bureau (CSA) to launch the Deep Space Food Challenge in 2021. The bureau awarded $450,000 total to teams based on concepts for stable, nutritious space foods. At present, NASA is inviting teams from the first round as well as newcomers to participate in stage 2. Teams that participated in phase 1 are automatically invited to phase 2, but anybody else needs to apply earlier the stop of February. In addition, the cash prizes are merely bachelor to US-based teams (although anyone can participate). The CSA is running a parallel process with its own judges and prizes for Canadian teams.

Some of the concepts floated in phase 1 included ready-to-eat foods that can be stored for long periods, dehydrated powders that tin can be processed into foods, and cultured meat cells. Information technology won't exist equally simple as pitching something plausible this fourth dimension. In phase 2, NASA will require proof of concept systems and a sample of the proposed nutrient item to show that the idea is viable. Nutrition and stability are of principal importance, but that'southward no good if the food is so unpalatable that astronauts won't swallow it. NASA will use these technologies as it continues working on the future of space food.

Making a sandwich on Earth is something nosotros take for granted, only the supply chain that delivers all the sandwich components to your kitchen doesn't exist in space, and that's not efficient in infinite. While astronauts have been experimenting with techniques to abound food on the International Space Station, almost everything space adventurers eat will demand to be launched along with them. Withal, many foods don't travel well, and others lose nutritional value the longer they sit, or produce besides much waste product. As we venture farther abroad from World, it will be fifty-fifty harder to keep astronauts fed. For example, a crewed mission to Mars would probably require astronauts to spend several years abroad from Globe — we don't fifty-fifty know what will happen to astronauts after beingness abroad from World's protective cocoon for that long. And then, we can't be taking unnecessary risks with nutrition.

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