“It seems impossible until it’s done” : how space exploration could help reduce food insecurity on Earth
Clélia Cothier, Challenge Prize Fellow
My name is Clélia Cothier, I joined the Impact Canada Fellowship in October 2019 to support federal government departments in the design and implementation of Challenges Prizes. For close to two years, I have been working with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to lead and launch the Deep Space Food Challenge. The Challenge launched on January 12th, 2021 with the aim to create novel food production technologies or systems that require minimal inputs and maximize safe, nutritious, and palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions, and which have potential to benefit people on Earth. Since then, 10 semi-finalists from the Deep Space Food Challenge are working on their prototypes as part of Phase 2.
Last year, my colleague Brad Andrews wrote about how space could play a role in solving problems here on Earth, examining how we can address some barriers to remote health care through the Deep Space Healthcare Challenge. Food insecurity is a well-documented Canadian issue, particularly in the North where the population often has to deal with significantly higher (often several fold higher) food insecurity levels compared with Canada overall. The CSA has a goal to explore “how to help improve the accessibility of food across Canada, including the North, with the aim of, one day, taking these lessons learned to help astronauts grow food off Earth”. The last two years of the pandemic and the impacts of climate change have also highlighted the increasing need to build more resilience, independence and sovereignty in the Canadian food supply chain, in order to reduce the risks of food insecurities when global supply chains are strained.
Prior to joining the CSA, I had no technical background in space nor in food production, let alone knowledge of producing food in space. So how did I end up leading a challenge to grow food in space? My role has been to guide the Space Agency through an innovation challenge process, while drawing on the expertise of many subject-matter experts. Designing and implementing this Challenge has convinced me that space has the power to draw attention to earthly problems, to attract significant public interest and curiosity, and to encourage the emergence of creative solutions that will benefit people on Earth.
How is the Deep Space Food Challenge concretely changing the way we help to address broader societal issues, for example food insecurity, through food production in remote and harsh environments? And how does it change the way we invest in, and apply the accrued benefits of space-related science and technology?
Bringing new players to the table
The Challenge had been successful in attracting a pool of diverse applicants: among the 61 Canadian applicants, 74% had not applied for a Government of Canada grant or contribution program in the past five years. This is one of countless examples of Challenges supporting unusual suspects to tackle big problems. The ten solutions selected to advance in Phase 2 of the Challenge range from plants, insects, to algae and yeast. A team is trying to turn Euglena into analogues for pulled pork, tuna salad or scrambled eggs, while one aims to produce drinks, noodles or yogurt-like paste from algae. Some want to make “space bacon” from mushrooms, and others aim to produce a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and mushrooms. These outside-the-box ideas are exactly what we were looking for in the Challenge!
Shedding light on an important topic
By the end of last year, 177 unique press articles were published on the Food Challenge. While announcements from government departments are common, this level of exposure for a one million dollar program is unusual and unprecedented. By using space as the setting for innovation, we can clearly help raise the profile and awareness of issues on Earth! The respected group of external experts on the Jury Panel also played a role in bringing attention to the issue, with jurors such as Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Chef Lynn Crawford and Lynn Blackwood — one of a few Indigenous Dietitians in Canada — providing significant support for the Challenge.
When asked about the incentives that motivated them to participate in the Challenge, 89% of applicants said it was for “the chance to work on a tough problem they care about”, whereas only 28% chose the prize money itself. Challenges like the Deep Space Food Challenge open up the solution-making process to all, giving a chance for Canadians to work on important issues that they care about. Space fascinates the minds of many, spanning people of all ages, and starting from the time we are children. The passion of all Challenge participants has been evident, and associating challenges of food security to future space missions is contributing to the emergence of creative solutions on Earth.
Building national and international collaborations
Designing the Deep Space Food Challenge was a real exercise of collaboration between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and CSA, and a first of its kind collaboration in the organization of a prize competition. Understanding the needs and contextual realities of each agency helped us create a strong and lasting relationship, and to design parallel challenges, ensuring each organization would fulfill its objectives while having broader terrestrial benefits for the world. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Observatory for Public Sector Innovation recently published a Case Study in the Surfacing Insights and Experimenting Across Borders report and as part of their Case Study Library of innovations.
On a national level, the Challenge enabled our team to connect and work closely with experts from other government departments, such as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the National Research Council (NRC), and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Thanks to the thorough technical expertise they bring to CSA, these collaborations really enriched the quality of the challenge, and the applicability for terrestrial impact. Challenges and space certainly do have in common their ability to bring people together towards achieving common goals!
Measuring outcomes & focusing on results
Finally, challenges help shift the way we fund innovation in Canada. Winners of each phase of the Challenge are not simply awarded for their potential or future ability to deliver on an idea, nor do they receive funds to cover certain types of expenses. Rather, each proposed solution is rigorously evaluated on a set of assessment criteria. For example, in Phase 2, teams’ prototypes and food outputs will be tested rigorously in government labs. The technology itself will be tested for chemical and biological hazards to ensure the process (both the food production system and the food it produces) is acceptable and safe. Food outputs will be tested to assess three elements: is the food safe for repeated human consumption, how nutritious is it, and will anyone want to eat it? By establishing and testing these criteria directly, we are able to ensure that funding is going towards initiatives that actually meet the goals of the project.
Phase 1 — Challenge Launch and Design Application Intake. January 12, 2021
Phase 2 — Up to 10 Semi-Finalists Will Test Their Prototype. Fall 2021
Phase 3 — Up to 4 Finalists Will Build a Full System Demonstration. Spring 2023
Canadian Grand Prize Winner Selected. Spring 2024
Looking ahead, to the Moon and back
While the Deep Space Food Challenge is engaging the community and helping to prepare Canadian innovators for space, all solutions may not be commercially available right at the end of the Challenge in 2024. The CSA’s working vision for food production is that by the mid-2030s, Canada will have developed food production capabilities for long-duration human spaceflight and provided one or more critical systems to an international lunar surface food system partnership, while contributing to improving food systems on Earth. For that, we’ll need to start by testing technologies through ground-based demonstrators. Naurvik (“the growing place” in Inuktitut), a partnership between the Gjoa Haven community in Nunavut, the Arctic Research Foundation, AAFC, NRC and CSA, is a great example of how ground demonstrators embedded in communities can connect the needs of Earth and space.
Nelson Mandela famously said “It always seems impossible until it’s done” and a lunar food production system is no easy feat. “Moonshots” are inspiring because they remind us that innovation and collaboration can make us achieve what seems out of reach. Moonshots are thought of as a very ambitious goal, requiring general mobilization; the expression originates from the bold Apollo programme in the 1960s. Authors like Mariana Mazzucato argue offer a contemporary vision for how “the original moonshot can be an inspiration for pursuing ‘earthshots’ today, and solving important societal problems”. If by the end of the 2030s, the work done to build a lunar food production system has helped reduce food insecurity in Canadian harsh environments and the world’s food deserts, it will certainly be an impact we can be proud of!
Thank you for reading!
Learn more about Impact Canada Challenges, and the CSA Food Production Initiative.
