Mars to Table selects five teams and awards 650,000 USD

Mars to Table selected five winning teams and provided 650,000 USD in funding. The effort has a January 2026 launch date and follows the Deep Space Food Challenge.

Mars to Table has a January 2026 launch date, follows the Deep Space Food Challenge, selected five winning teams, and provided 650,000 USD in funding.

The 2026 competition status is a complete food-production system, and NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are listed as partners.

Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure (ANI) was the first-place winner, and its entry is associated with 50% of the food away from Earth.

Cislune, listed in Rosemead, Calif., received 200,000 USD.

Fresh, Ferment, Reserve was the second-place food infrastructure entry.

The Applied Frameworks Award received 50,000 USD, and Chinyere Ukeje, listed in Philadelphia, Pa., received 300,000 USD.

Jennifer Edmunson manages Centennial Challenges at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and Dr. Alexander Meyers was the head judge for Mars to Table.

The teams supplied design layouts, meal plans, operational concepts, and walkthrough videos.

The facts tie food production to long-duration missions beyond Earth. A one-way trip to Mars is listed as at least nine months, and the mission scenario uses a 15-person astronaut crew for 500 Martian sols, about 513 Earth days.

Current astronaut meals are nearly all prepared, packaged, and delivered to the International Space Station. The first-place ANI concept involves 50% of the food away from Earth.