Food & nutrition
Also: Food and Nutrition risk
Distance from EarthGI & NutritionIn-flightLEO long-durationLunar surfaceMars transit & surfacePublicClinicianResearcher
- Nutrition is adequate for 6- to 12-month missions with resupply. ◆◆◆◇ Moderate · F
- A food system that lasts 5 years without resupply doesn't exist yet. NASA rates the Mars risk 5×5, requiring mitigation. ◆◆◆◆ High · E
Proposed certainty (◆ High → ◇ Very low) and evidence-type tags: F flight · A analog · M model/animal · C computational · E expert/operational/standards. AI-proposed, pending reviewer confirmation. How to read the grades.
NASA risk title (verbatim)
Risk of Performance Decrement and Crew Illness Due to Inadequate Food and Nutrition
NASA short title: Food and Nutrition · HRP element: Human Health Countermeasures (HHC) · Status: Active [current research ongoing] [1]
What it is
This risk covers performance loss and illness from an inadequate food system or inadequate nutrition. NASA merged two older risks, “Food” and “Nutrition”, into this one [1].
Current evidence
- A lot is known about the basic nutrition needed in flight, and food-safety controls exist [1].
- Adequate nutrition and safe food have been shown for 6-month missions and a few 1-year missions, all with resupply [1].
- Ground data show that dehydration and faster-than-usual weight loss impair thinking and performance [1].
- Lunar missions may provide less food and fewer ways to prepare it than the ISS, a risk that has not been characterized [1].
- A pre-packaged food system with a 5-year shelf life, with adequate nutrition, acceptability, safety and variety, is an open gap [1].
NASA’s risk posture
NASA scores each risk for each design reference mission (DRM) as likelihood × consequence (LxC). Both run from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) on the HSRB’s 5×5 matrix [1][3]. Each score comes with a disposition, such as “Accepted”, “Requires Characterization” or “Requires Mitigation”. These ratings were last approved by NASA’s Human System Risk Board (HSRB) in 7/2022 [1].
| Mission | Duration | In-mission (operations) | Long-term health |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEO | Short (under 30 d) | 2x2 · Accepted with Monitoring | 1x1 · Accepted |
| LEO | Long (30 d–1 yr) | 5x2 · Accepted with Optimization | 3x2 · Accepted with Monitoring |
| Lunar orbit | Short | 5x2 · Accepted with Optimization | 3x2 · Accepted with Monitoring |
| Lunar orbit | Long | 5x3 · Requires Mitigation | 4x2 · Requires Mitigation |
| Lunar orbit + surface | Short | 5x3 · Requires Mitigation | 3x2 · Accepted with Monitoring |
| Lunar orbit + surface | Long | 5x4 · Requires Mitigation | 4x3 · Requires Mitigation |
| Mars preparatory | Under 1 yr | 5x4 · Requires Mitigation | 5x3 · Requires Mitigation |
| Mars planetary | 730–1,224 d | 5x5 · Requires Mitigation | 5x3 · Requires Mitigation |
Copied from the Human Research Roadmap on 2026-10-14. Ratings change. Check the live record before citing.
Open knowledge gaps
NASA lists 3 knowledge gaps for this risk, 3 of them open as of 2026-10-14 [1]. Each gap ID links to its page on the Human Research Roadmap (HRR).
Show NASA’s gap list (verbatim)
| Gap | NASA gap statement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| FN-101 | Determine the nutritional requirements that would maintain health and performance for DRMs. | Open |
| FN-102 | Determine the nutrient content, safety, and acceptability of the spaceflight food system (specific to each DRM and associated vehicle constraints). | Open |
| FN-302 | Validate CM in flight | Open |
See also Open questions.
Active countermeasure research
- Candidate countermeasures. Options being studied include growing fresh food to supplement stores (bioregenerative supplementation) and alternative processing, packaging and storage [1].
- Food as a countermeasure. NASA’s goal is requirements for a food system that is nutritious, palatable and safe, and that also supports physical and mental health within resource limits [1].
Project-level detail, including status, investigators and results, is in the NASA Task Book and on each HRR gap page.
Clinical articles
For practical, clinic-facing guidance, see:
Evidence profile
- Overall certainty
- ◆◆◆◇ Moderate (proposed)
- Evidence types
- F · Flight dataE · Expert / operational / standards
- Literature through
- 2026-10-14
- NASA source
- Human Research Roadmap risk page (last published 05/13/25; read 2026-10-14)
Requirements referenced 1
| Requirement | Title | Plain-language meaning |
|---|---|---|
| [V1 4019]–[V1 4020] | Pre-Mission Nutritional Status / In-Mission Nutrient Intake | Diet assessed and must provide 100% of nutrient and energy needs. |
IDs as published in NASA-STD-3001 Vol. 1 Rev C (2023-09-15) and NASA-STD-3001 Vol. 2 Rev F (2026-07-14). NASA-STD-3001 binds NASA programs; it is not a regulation for commercial flights. Paraphrased. Standards quick reference.
References 3
- NASA Human Research Roadmap. Risk record: “Risk of Performance Decrement and Crew Illness Due to Inadequate Food and Nutrition”. Accessed 2026-10-14. humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/Risks/?i=176 NASA E
- NASA Human Research Program. Evidence report for the Food risk (approved April 9, 2024). humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/evidence/other/Food%20HRP-Evid… NASA E
- Antonsen EL, et al. Updates to the NASA human system risk management process for space exploration. NPJ Microgravity. 2023;9:72. doi:10.1038/s41526-023-00305-z PMID:37679359 Peer-reviewed E
Machine-checked on 2026-10-14: each URL resolved, each DOI's title/journal/year matched via Crossref, and claims were checked against the source text (abstract or full NASA page). Human verification against full text is still required before review. NASA documents are U.S. Government works (public domain) and are summarized with attribution; journal articles are summarized, not reproduced.
Article info
- Authors
- Pending (AI-assisted draft)
- Reviewer
- Pending review
- Last reviewed
- Pending review
- Literature through
- 2026-10-14
- AI-assisted
- Yes (disclosed)
- COI
- Pending
- License
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Use
- Educational only · Disclaimer
- Cite this version
- Pending first edition