Insights

Space food refers to specially formulated and processed food products designed to meet the nutritional requirements of astronauts during space missions, while surviving the adverse atmosphere. They are engineered with extended shelf life and ease of consumption in microgravity conditions. Traditional preservation techniques such as freeze drying have been employed, but they can compromise taste and texture, prompting ongoing research into alternative preservation techniques.

Space Food Market size is estimated to be USD 3.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 5.3 billion by 2033. Compound Annual Growth Rate - 6.1%

• Demand for Nutrient-Rich Foods: There is a growing demand for nutrient-rich foods that provide astronauts with essential vitamins, minerals, protein, and energy to maintain health and performance during space missions.
• Focus on Sustainability: Efforts to develop environment-friendly packaging, reduce food waste, and explore alternative protein sources for space-based agriculture are ongoing.
• Enhanced Flavour and Variety: Manufacturers are investing in flavour enhancement technologies and expanding the variety of space food options to improve palatability and meal satisfaction for astronauts during extended missions.

Market Drivers

• Space Tourism: The emerging space tourism industry is driving demand for high-quality, enjoyable food experiences in space, creating opportunities for culinary innovation.
• Supply Chain Challenges: Logistics and supply chain management in space present challenges, including limited storage space, transportation constraints, and reliance on resupply missions for fresh food and provisions.
• Microgravity Environment: This can affect food texture, flavour perception, and digestion, requiring specialized formulations and packaging to ensure palatability and food safety.
• Regulatory Hurdles: Regulatory requirements and safety standards for space food production and consumption add complexity and compliance costs for manufacturers and suppliers operating in this market.

Market Opportunities

• Novel Ingredients: Exploration of novel ingredients such as algae, insects, and cellular agriculture products offers opportunities to diversify the space food menu, enhance nutritional quality, and promote sustainable food production in space.
• 3D Printing Technology: It enables on-demand manufacturing of customized food items in space, reducing storage volume and minimizing food waste.
• Vertical Farming: Vertical farming and hydroponic systems onboard spacecraft and space habitats allow for the cultivation of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, enhancing dietary variety, flavour, and nutritional diversity.
• Space Culinary Tourism: The emergence of space culinary tourism experiences, such as space-themed restaurants, immersive dining events, and zero-gravity food tastings, creates new revenue streams and marketing opportunities for space food manufacturers.

CAGR Graph

Protein Food for Astronauts

Why is it required? Spaceflight induces significant muscle atrophy due to the absence of gravitational resistance. Functional foods enriched with taurine, BCAAs, and plant polyphenols (e.g., epicatechin, quercetin) help maintain muscle protein synthesis and reduce catabolic stress. Emerging protein sources such as algal-based and precision-fermented plant proteins are particularly promising, especially when combined with antioxidants that mitigate oxidative stress and inflammatory damage.

Companies currently in the market (Competitors):

• Solar Foods – a Finnish company that grew Solein (a novel protein) using electricity and CO2.
• AIR COMPANY – produced a carbon-derived single-cell protein developed with their AIRMADE technology, which imitates the process of photosynthesis.
• SpaceX – cultured meat protein bars (animal cells in bioreactors), spirulina-based nutrishakes, quinoa space burritos, and insect-infused energy chews.
• Kernel Deltech’s Team Eternal – alternative protein from Fusarium venenatum, branded Mycofood, easier to digest than beef, soy, and other proteins.
• Fy Protein – a complete protein containing all twenty amino acids, discovered in microbes from Yellowstone Park’s geothermal springs, now used in plant-based sausages sold at Whole Foods.

Why Yeast is the Best Single-Celled Protein Source for Space

When considering single-celled organisms as a protein source for interstellar travel, yeast often takes center stage. Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), a single-celled fungus commonly used in breadmaking and brewing, offers several advantages for space travel protein needs:

• Efficient Growth: Yeast thrives in controlled environments and has a rapid growth cycle. It can be cultivated in spacecraft bioreactors with minimal resources like water and nutrients.
• Genetic Modification Potential: Yeast can be engineered for:
  • Enhanced protein content per gram.
  • Optimized nutrient profiles, producing vitamins or minerals that complement other space foods.
  • Complete protein functionality, containing all nine essential amino acids.
• Complete Protein Source: Certain yeast strains provide all essential amino acids, making them a balanced addition to astronaut diets for long-duration missions.

AIR COMPANY – AIRMADE™ Technology

Their winning submission is a carbon-derived single-cell protein developed with their patented and proprietary AIRMADE™ carbon conversion technology, which imitates the process of photosynthesis.

Process Overview:

• Water electrolysis splits water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.
• Hydrogen from the water electrolyzer is combined with carbon dioxide over catalysts to produce alcohols and water.
• The alcohols are diluted and combined with nitrogen and other minerals.
• Microbes are added to consume the alcohol, producing a single-cell protein.

No detailed public information about the bioreactor design is available.

Solar Foods – Solein

The production of Solein consists of five main steps:

1. Raw Materials:
   • CO₂ and water are captured from air.
   • Renewable electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, achieving ~20% efficiency in converting electricity to calories.
   • Inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus and calcium supplement the process.
2. Natural Bioprocess: Instead of sugar-fed yeast, microbes are grown using hydrogen, CO₂, and nutrients, similar to fermentation.
3. Microbial Growth: The microorganisms multiply rapidly in water enriched with CO₂ and nutrients.
4. Harvesting: Slurry is removed and dried, producing Solein, a powder composed of up to 78% protein.
5. Functional Protein Powder: The product has a mild umami flavour and can be incorporated into a wide variety of foods.

Typical nutritional values of Solein:

• Protein: 78%
• Total dietary fibre: 10%
• Fats: 6%
• Minerals: 4%
• Carbohydrates: 2%

Team Eternal – Mycoprotein Bioreactors

Mycoprotein is typically produced in aerobic, continuous fermentation bioreactors, most commonly airlift bioreactors, with precise control of pH, temperature, and oxygen.

• Commercial bioreactors operate continuously with ~155 m³ working volume.
• Production rate: ~2 metric tons of mycoprotein per hour.
• Process includes RNA reduction to ensure food safety.

Eternal Bioworks Corp. is advancing mycoprotein technology by optimizing fermentation processes, enhancing nutritional profiles, and lowering production costs through advanced bioreactors and process modeling.

SpaceX & Collaborations – Miniaturized Bioreactors

SpaceX, as a launch service provider, has supported multiple collaborative bioreactor projects for protein production in space.

• Imperial College & Frontier Space: Developed miniaturized bioreactors for microbial precision fermentation using engineered yeast and fungi. Compact, resource-efficient systems with integrated sensors.
• ESA Experiments: Small automated bioreactors with genetically modified yeast tested aboard Falcon 9 missions. Designed to sustain microbial growth under microgravity.
• SCK CEN Spirulina Bioreactor: A photobioreactor producing both oxygen and nutrients simultaneously, supporting closed-loop life support in long missions.
• NASA–SpaceX–Nature’s Fynd: Protein bioreactor growing Fy (fungi protein) aboard the ISS, using patented fermentation tech with high efficiency and low resource requirements.

Future Scope

NASA is developing 3D-printable bioreactor designs for deep space missions. These modular systems will allow in-situ fabrication and deployment, customizable for diverse food production needs, including protein cultivation, in environments far beyond Earth.

Business Plan

Our Company is a biotechnology company creating a complete, end-to-end platform for sustainable protein production. We are solving two critical challenges: the rising demand for high-quality, eco-friendly protein on Earth and the fundamental barrier of feeding astronauts on long-duration space missions.

Our core innovation is a proprietary, genetically modified yeast with an industry-leading 20% higher protein yield than the parent strain in urea medium, and almost a 300% increase in URA dropout minimal media and inherent radiation resistance. This yeast is biologically locked to our proprietary growth medium through an engineered auxotrophy, a dependency on a special component that only we provide. This "biological lock-and-key" system makes our strain impossible for customers to replicate.

Our offering is an integrated production platform:

• The proprietary yeast strain.
• The proprietary growth medium (recurring revenue).
• An optimized bioreactor system.

Our strategic plan is to first deploy this platform in the terrestrial supplement market in India, generating profits. This profitable business will serve as the financial engine to fund our ultimate goal: developing the space-qualified version of our platform to enable the future of human exploration.