Mars to Table Award

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

A group in Hilo won an award from NASA a few days ago, with their submission for developing a food system for astronauts on their way to Mars. Old ways lead the way to new ways:

ʻOhā Kanu from Hilo, Hawaii, is the creator of the "ʻOhā Kanu: An Ahupuaʻa-Inspired Food System for Mars," which recently won a $50,000 Applied Frameworks Award in NASA's Mars to Table Challenge.NASA announced the winners of this innovation contest on September 24, 2026. The challenge sought cutting-edge technologies and deep-space food system concepts capable of feeding astronauts on long-duration Mars missions.The Hilo-based design stands out by blending cultural knowledge with space-age logistics:

The Inspiration: The framework borrows its design from the traditional Hawaiian ahupuaʻa system—a highly sustainable, self-sufficient mountain-to-sea resource management model.

The Name: In the Hawaiian language, ʻohā refers to the offshoots of the kalo (taro) plant that regenerate life, while kanu means "to plant". Together, the name reflects a culturally rooted approach to sustaining human life in a closed-loop system far from Earth.

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/p...r%2520Mars

[MyManao]

A group in Hilo won an award from NASA a few days ago, with their submission for developing a food system for astronauts on their way to Mars.  Old ways lead the way to new ways...

Wow, good for them! 'Tis a shame the article doesn't go into the details..

But, you know, I wonder just how likely it is we're really going to go to, and set up shop for the duration on, the Red Planet? I ran into, and seriously wonder about the veracity of, this article the other day, and oh my what a spin it puts on all this..