▒Solution

Designed & developed a novel modular polyculture indoor food production system capable of growing a diversity of biologically efficient food products, including protein, & meeting the daily needs of 4 people from a system just 2m cubed in volume. A number of novel technologies were developed & many sub-systems were combined in order to offer the widest possible variety of foods with optimal yield & minimal input. These were developed over 3 integrated prototypes & 4 years. The final system included liquid fermentation of mycelium to provide a protein source & plant growth chambers to provide all other major dietary needs. The system included the ability to propagate plants from cellular material in agar as opposed to seed, increasing the variety of plants that can be grown repeatability & reducing the seed input required for a long duration space mission. Water was recirculated with an inline UV filter & algae growth chamber on the drain water line to maximize water use efficiency. The final working prototype was demonstrated growing strawberries, cherry tomatoes, two root vegetables, microgreens, four unique culinary herbs, mini-head lettuce, algae powder, & the mycelial meat substitute. Full details cannot be shown as IP protection is being sort on aspects of the system & we are now exploring terrestrial commercial applications for various configurations of the base technology.

▓Leadership

• Founded the team responding to the challange. Hired and led a team of 18 contractors from a wide variety of technical & business backgrounds to conduct 0-to-1 sub-system research, design, development, & demonstration

• Owned system architecture & hardware/software integration to meet the requirements of the challange & subsiquent commercial contracts

█Impact

• Secured $1M+ in funding from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) & private equity based on a strategy pairing deep-tech potential with capital-light consumer packaged goods

• Won NASA & the CSA’s Deep Space Food Challenge in 2024