What would it take to make a cobb salad on Mars? How would you grow the lettuce, or raise the chickens? NASA launched a challenge Tuesday that aims to answer questions like these.
“Astronauts on extended missions to the surface of Mars and the Moon will require food systems that are completely independent of Earth,” said NASA in a description of the challenge. “To address this, NASA is running the new Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table.”
Currently, most of the food astronauts eat in space comes from Earth. This challenge calls for submissions of a complete meal plan for a crew on Mars with “concepts for food systems that use a variety of food sources and technologies to meet a crew’s nutritional needs,” NASA explained. It is open to “global citizens” and U.S. winners could receive prizes from a total prize purse of $750,000.
Here’s the breakdown of available prizes: up to $300,000 to the team in first place, up to $200,000 for the team who comes in second place, up to $100,000 for the team who comes in third place and up to $50,000 each for three teams for exemplary achievements in specific focus areas. International teams are eligible to compete and receive recognition but they are not eligible for NASA prize money. Up to three international teams may be named the International Winner and International Runners-Up of the Challenge.
Teams are required to submit a solution summary, a nutritionally complete two-week meal plan, a slide-based concept of operations, a design layout for the food system on Mars’ surface, a recorded video presentation up to 10 minutes in length and a functional Python-based simulation model of the proposed system. Solution summaries are due May 22, registration closes at 6 p.m. July 31 and Aug. 14 is the final submission deadline. Judging and question and answer sessions will be held in August and winners will be announced in September.
“The Challenge invites multidisciplinary teams to design complete, nutritionally sufficient integrated food systems for long-duration human missions, with Teams spending approximately seven months developing a Mars surface habitat food system through September 2026,” NASA explained. It said the challenge is part of NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge series and that it’s administered by the Methuselah Foundation. Research conducted by the teams could help develop systems that reduce reliance on Earth resupply for space missions while maintaining crew health, morale, and performance.
Previous research into space-related food systems included a project to grow tomatoes at the International Space Station and growing plants in lunar soil. Preserved rogue tomatoes were re-discovered on the space station in 2023 and other plant studies were continuing there at the time.
“Multi-year planetary expeditions demand Earth-independent, integrated food systems that can operate reliably under extreme constraints,” said NASA. In addition to being more sustainable, more advanced food systems could help astronauts feel more at home even when they are far from Earth.
While this research is focused on space missions, NASA noted that it “could also transform food systems right here on Earth, helping to resolve food insecurities and eliminating scarcities across our own planet.” Angela Herblet, former program analyst and challenge manager said it is “a win-win for everybody.”
Last July, the World Health Organization reported that 8.2% of the global population experienced hunger in 2024, slightly down from previous years. Data updated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last January indicated that 13.5% of U.S. households were food insecure throughout 2023. That means those households didn’t have “access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.”
Apart from dealing with hunger, NASA said technologies developed for Mars can also transform food systems on Earth could have disaster relief applications. It could help remote communities as well as defense and expeditionary operations, communities in extreme environments, and urban food resilience, said the space agency.
“Key goals and constraints include limiting Earth-provisioned foods to no more than 50% of the system and integrating with environmental control and life support systems to enable efficient resource reuse,” it said of the Mars plans. Through its Artemis program, NASA hopes that humans will return to the moon this decade and to land humans on Mars in the 2030s, according to Space.com.
Already, NASA has had volunteer crews participate in Mars simulations for one-year missions. A mission underway now at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is scheduled to conclude this October.