Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table

Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table is sponsored by NASA. This global competition invites innovators to design a complete, Earth-independent food system for long-duration space missions.

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To address this, NASA is running the new Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table. This global competition asks participants to create a complete meal plan for a crew on Mars, along with concepts for food systems that use a variety of food sources and technologies to meet a crew’s nutritional needs. The challenge will officially conclude in September 2026 and has a total prize purse of $750,000.

Learn More and Apply about About the Challenge Learn more about the story behind NASA’s next Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table. Final Stretch: Reminders and Q&A Webinar Hosted July 9, 2026 | 12 PM ET Registration for the Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table is closing on July 31! This informational webinar shared final reminders and challenge experts addressed live and pre-submitted questions.

On Nov. 11, 2020, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins photographs the first major milestone of the Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) experiment aboard the International Space Station. Ask the Experts: Mid-Challenge Check-In Hosted June 4, 2026 | 12 PM ET This was our third informational webinar for the Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table.

During this webinar, attendees had the chance to hear subject-matter experts from NASA and the organization behind BioSim answer their pre-submitted questions related to the challenge and its expectations, rules, and deliverables. NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge directly supports the agency’s Moon to Mars initiatives.

Meals for Mars: Advancing the Future of Space Food Systems Hosted April 16, 2026 | 11 AM – 12 PM ET This was the second informational webinar for the Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table. NASA experts, commercial industry, and academia discussed the past, present, and future of space food, the complexities of the systems involved, and how this competition contributes to the discourse.

Hosted February 26, 2026 | 1 – 2 PM ET This webinar was intended for individuals and teams who are considering participation in NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table. NASA experts and collaborators discussed why we launched the challenge and shared more about the expectations, requirements, and evaluation criteria.

This illustration of Moon to Mars operations shows an astronaut piloting a robotic arm to manipulate cargo on Mars. NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives establish an objectives-based approach to the agency’s human deep space exploration efforts; NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture approach distills the objectives into operational capabilities and elements.

NASA Back for Seconds with New Food System Design Challenge NASA is getting ready to send four astronauts around the Moon with Artemis II, laying the foundation for sustainable missions to the lunar surface and paving the way for human exploration on Mars. As the agency considers deep space endeavors that could last months or years, it must develop ways to feed astronauts beyond sending supplies from Earth.

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 2500 kilometers from the surface of the planet, with the scale being . 6km/pixel.

The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene (lat -8, long 78) shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 2000 kilometers long and up to 8 kilometers deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north.

The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 25 kilometers high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters.

Deep Space Food Challenge (2021-2024) This challenge sought to generate novel food production technologies or systems requiring minimal resources and produce minimal waste, while providing safe, nutritious, and tasty food for long-duration human exploration missions. Jennifer Edmunson (Acting Program Manager) Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. hq-stmd-centennialchallenges@mail.

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