From early expeditions across the oceans, to the exploration of the polar regions, history has demonstrated time and time again that food is often the critical factor between any mission’s success and failure — space is no different.

In 2021, NASA released the Deep Space Food Challenge in coordination with the Canadian Space Agency to identify technologies that could potentially contribute to the future food system in support of deep space exploration. After final prizes were awarded in 2024, it was recognized that approaching the development of the food systems through the lens of individual technologies was no longer effective.

The roadmap for the future food system must expand to include not just food production, but also preparation and cooking; storage and waste management; and human factors and safety. Similarly, the development of new technologies and approaches will have to expand to engage new types of partners in order to stimulate innovation and expedite development, testing and ultimately, deployment.

In short: the responsibility cannot lie with just one country, organization, or industry.

The Deep Space Food Consortium was established by the challenge administrators and partners to continue expanding the definition and development of future food systems by uniting the global community and connecting opportunities across disciplines. What started as an effort to understand the potential of individual technologies, has sparked a movement and a community ready to explore and expand how we think about these future food systems, and what it will take to make them a reality.

The future of food in space will define the future of humanity in space. Let’s build it together.