The Moonshot To Grow Food In Space

BusinessFood & DrinkThe Moonshot To Grow Food In SpaceByDerek Norman,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Derek Norman is VP of Agriculture Venture Investments, Leaps by Bayer.Follow AuthorJun 11, 2026, 08:00am EDTCreative researchers are working on solutions to feed astronauts during long-distance space travel. gettyWith the success of the recent Artemis II mission and the SpaceX IPO aiming for the moon, the prospect of deep space exploration has never felt closer. With that comes the question: how do you feed astronauts in space?NASA’s Artemis program is laying down the groundwork for longer-duration space travel and habitation, including the first human missions to Mars as early as the 2030s. At the same time, private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are reducing the cost of access to space, which will enable sending the cargo necessary to sustain extended missions. Still, the cost of resupplying remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in deep space exploration.A trip to Mars would take around 900 days. A six-member crew requires approximately 10,000 kg of food in that timeframe. To reduce that amount, initiatives like Deep Space Food Consortium and NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division are looking for new technological solutions to grow food in space. As a bonus, those innovative approaches could help us solve the challenges we face back here on Earth as we figure out how to feed the growing global population.Hacking PhotosynthesisTraditional agriculture requires large landmass areas and plenty of sunlight—two inputs that are clearly limited in deep space. Over half of the U.S. landmass is used for agricultural purposes. The fact that plants convert less than 1% of solar energy into edible calories presents a major limitation for crop yields, especially in photon-limited environments like spacecrafts, the Moon, or Mars. Something we all learn in biology is that plants use light pho...