±«ÓãÖ±²¥ team advances in Deep Space Food Challenge
A team led by two recent ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ bioengineering graduates, Alexander Becker and Cynthia Hitti, has made it through to the final phase of the with their system for rearing crickets as a food source for long-haul space voyages.
The team will now face the challenge of developing a full-scale production version of their Cricket Rearing, Collection, and Transformation System (CRCTS) by the spring of 2024 as they compete against three other Canadian finalists for a grand prize of $380,000 in grant funding.
CRCTS was to make it to the semi-finals of the competition, which is a joint initiative of NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and Impact Canada. Starting with just a few hundred eggs, the technology is anticipated to support the growth of tens of thousands of crickets a month. The end-product is a finely-ground powder that can be combined with water to form a versatile, protein-packed ingredient.
CRCTS and InSpira PBR both evolved under the umbrella of the , an initiative supervised by Mark Lefsrud, Associate Professor in ±«ÓãÖ±²¥â€™s Department of Bioresource Engineering. The MARTLET project has engaged over 100 students and submitted a total of six design proposals to the DFSC.
(Originally published in the )