Since the earliest space missions, Americans have held a monopoly on astronaut food, but that might soon change. In 2024 Lithuanian company Geld Baltic secured funding from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and test innovative snacks for space missions.

According to the company’s CEO, Laura Kaziukonienė, small cubes of freeze-dried berries and vegetables, alongside freeze-dried cold beet soup, will be sent into Earth orbit for the first time on a commercial mission scheduled for February 2026.

The goal is for spacefarers on long missions – for example, to Mars – to be able to prepare the Lithuanian-developed concentrated fruit and vegetable snacks themselves aboard their spacecraft. “There are many producers of freeze-dried food around the world, but when it comes to these cubes, we are unique,” says Kaziukonienė.

What do astronauts eat?

A question that often fascinates the public – aside from how astronauts sleep or relieve themselves on the International Space Station (ISS) – is what they eat.

Early American and Russian spacefarers relied mostly on semi-liquid foods packed in aluminium tubes. Many agreed the food was unappetising and awkward to eat. NASA subsequently refined freeze-drying technology, which removes moisture from food at very low temperatures.

“You need a special machine, where the temperature drops to as low as minus 80 degrees, and the moisture is pulled out under a vacuum. From a physics perspective, water has three phases: solid, liquid, and gas. In this process, we skip the liquid stage and take the vapour straight from the ice,” Kaziukonienė explains.

Freeze-drying reduces the weight of the food while retaining much of its vitamin content, extending shelf life and distinguishing it from heat-processed meals.

“About 28% of vitamins remain, yet the weight decreases roughly tenfold. Of course, it depends on the product – cucumbers or watermelon shrink by a factor of 25, while strawberries keep their size but weigh seven times less,” she adds.

Early NASA experiments with freeze-dried food were not successful: products were difficult to rehydrate, required hot water, and crumbs needed to be carefully managed. However, improvements in technology and packaging have made freeze-dried food indispensable in space.

Today, most food consumed by astronauts on the ISS is either dehydrated (supplied by Americans) or canned (supplied by Russians). Menus are varied, and astronauts finalise an eight-day meal plan before launch.

Pizza, cookies, and even espresso coffee can be enjoyed in space with specialised equipment. Some meals are even prepared by Michelin-starred chefs.

The importance of variety

Extended stays in space affect the human body: astronauts lose bone and muscle mass, and fluid shifts strain the cardiovascular system. These processes mirror ageing on Earth but can be mitigated through exercise and a balanced diet.

Therefore, the responsibility for astronaut nutrition falls to packaged food producers, who must ensure that food destined for space can withstand extreme conditions, remain nutritionally balanced and efficient, while still being fresh and palatable.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are rare on the ISS, remaining viable for only up to two days.

Today, almost all US and European astronaut food is made in America. There have been isolated projects – Italian coffee, or Polish dumplings sent to the ISS this year – but only the French Space Agency has developed a broader menu for European astronauts, according to Kaziukonienė.

This is set to change. Panevėžys-based Geld Baltic won ESA funding in 2024 to test Lithuanian freeze-dried snacks in space and, if successful, supply them to astronauts.

From berries to cubes

In 2019, a team from Kaunas University of Technology produced vegetable and fruit cubes in an innovation competition, winning €5,000. This was the start of a product now sold in stores, sent to the Ukrainian frontline, and soon to orbit Earth.

“As a child, I read a lot of science fiction books where someone would take a pill and eat an entire chicken. Since we had already started working with freeze-drying technology, I thought, why not make that childhood dream a reality?” says Kaziukonienė.

“So I went to Kaunas University of Technology and asked, ‘Can you fit a chicken into a pill?’ That was literally the request. They tried and tried, but it didn’t work. However, through experimentation, these cubes emerged. We later patented them, and they became the foundation for the astronaut food we are developing today.”

The cubes are made by first freeze-drying the vegetables and fruits, compressing them, stabilising them with pea protein, and binding them with cocoa butter – a composition patented across Europe.

“The key is a balanced diet: protein, fats, fibres, vitamins, all derived from the dominant dry matter – berries, fruits, vegetables, or dairy,” explains Kaziukonienė.

Winning ESA funding

Lithuania joined the ESA in 2021, opening opportunities for local firms to secure funding for space projects. Kaziukonienė presented her cubes, including versions with insects as a protein source, to ESA representatives.

“And I told them about these cubes of mine, which at that time already included some with larvae and crickets. Larvae are easy to cultivate and could even be grown in space as a protein source. The conversation naturally evolved: they wanted to create an alternative to NASA. Europe doesn’t produce astronaut food and was looking for someone who could supply freeze-dried products. Step by step, they encouraged me: ‘Give it a try, think it through, and submit an application.’”

And that's what she did. Though the first attempt was unsuccessful, good news came on the second try. “We were overjoyed, as it was a long-awaited and major achievement,” says Kaziukonienė.

“It was definitely a proud moment, but it comes with a duty, because this is an unimaginably complex process. We work with the Space Agency and with scientists. Every month we have the strictest-level reporting and documentation – akin to individual scientific papers, and all in English,” she explains.

In her view, the Panevėžys-based company attracted ESA’s attention because it produces nutritionally complete snacks that are ready to eat immediately, something astronauts currently do not receive.

“All freeze-dried food is, in theory, not so simple to eat; it needs water, which is very difficult in space. Our products are ready to eat here and now, meaning you consume the full concentration. [...] We are talking about a complete snack,” says Kaziukonienė.

“Imagine travelling for a long mission to Mars – you can’t just eat the same nuts over and over again (currently the available ISS snack). Besides, you couldn’t carry enough of them anyway.”

Innovative proteins

Two approaches dominate the space sector: the US and East Asia, explains the businesswoman. Americans, with NASA, believe any health issues astronauts face in space should be addressed with medicine. In East Asia, the Chinese and Japanese emphasise prevention through diet.

“Now, at ESA, we want to adopt the Eastern approach, focusing on prevention through food, because we already know that the astronauts lack iron, vitamin C, etc. For our cubes, we want to select berries and fruits that provide the maximum spectrum of minerals and preventive nutrients such as vitamins to maintain proper body condition,” Kaziukonienė explains.

The main goal of the funded project, she reveals, is to incorporate innovative proteins into the company’s fruit and vegetable cubes. Cricket and larvae flour is no longer considered a novel protein source, so new solutions need to be found.

For example, one protein being tested in the Lithuanian snacks is synthetic lactoferrin produced by microorganisms.

“Lactoferrin is a substance normally found in mother’s colostrum,” Kaziukonienė notes. “It is a protein with anti-inflammatory properties.”

The company is also experimenting with proteins produced by bacteria grown in specialised reactors that capture CO2 from the air.

“This microorganism grows chemoautotrophically – it derives energy not from the sun, like plants, but from hydrogen, and its carbon source is CO2. All the material (microorganism, CO2, hydrogen, minerals) goes into a bioreactor, where the microbes multiply in a controlled environment, similar to brewing, but instead of sugar, CO2 and H2 are used. Once the culture thickens, the microorganisms are isolated, water removed, leaving protein powder (65–78% protein),” she explains.

These proteins are produced by the company’s partners abroad. “These are global innovations. We had to work very hard to convince these [innovative protein producers] to engage with us,” Kaziukonienė tells LRT.lt.

By the end of the project, the company must deliver three versions of the cubes, each containing a different protein.

“At first, we had to propose 25 alternative proteins. The Space Agency selected, in their view, the nine most suitable. Now we are working to narrow it down to three,” she says.

Considerations when developing space food

She explains that one of the most important requirements for astronaut food producers today is a long shelf life, as only such food can accompany people on extended interplanetary missions. Moreover, astronauts must be able to prepare the food themselves.

“Algae and other unicellular organisms grow quickly. On a spacecraft, you could cultivate spirulina, larvae, or something else, then freeze-dry it, retaining all nutritional value. Freeze-drying removes the water, so you could use it again to grow something else. It’s a cycle,” Kaziukonienė says. “Perhaps we could send powdered berries, but it’s important that some protein comes from unicellular organisms or algae.”

She adds that other requirements exist for space food: for example, salt negatively affects astronauts, so its amount must be minimised. Taste perception also changes in space, so flavours must be more intense and pronounced, which is also important psychologically.

“The emotional aspect is extremely important for astronauts, soldiers, and mountaineers. Being in a place with special, critical conditions, a person can use food to reduce feelings of loneliness. This factor is incredibly important psychologically. [...] It is stimulated through chemical reactions and memories. Therefore, in such extreme conditions, everything needs to be more intense,” says the head of the freeze-dried food company.

Scheduled commercial mission in february 2026

“ESA currently funds the scientific research. Later, if everything works, the EU will purchase the finished product,” Kaziukonienė explains.

Final recipes for the Lithuanian snacks are expected to be confirmed by December 4 this year, and in the best-case scenario, the product could reach space as part of the ESA project by 2028.

Nevertheless, Kaziukonienė hopes that the the innovative snack will be launched into Earth’s orbit earlier – on a commercial mission in February 2026.

“It will be sent and exposed to space conditions. Once returned, we will study what happens. In theory, everything should be fine because freeze-dried food has already been tested extensively, but we still need to see how these cubes, which are combined with other components, behave in space,” she says.

Astronauts aboard the ISS face radiation hundreds of times higher than on Earth, affecting not just humans but also bacteria, which mutate or grow faster. Therefore, even the food sent to orbit must be thoroughly tested to understand how it will be affected.

Alongside the cubes, freeze-dried cold beet soup will also be sent, a small nod to Lithuanian identity in the vastness of space.

“Cold beet soup is, you could say, our national dish,” Kaziukonienė says. “It’s made with kefir, so probiotics survive the freeze-drying. It’s a source of protein. Beetroots contain iron, eggs protein, plus cucumbers – nutritionally, it’s a solid product.”

Supplying Ukraine

This year, the patented cubes produced in Panevėžys are not only intended for space. By adding extra protein, caffeine, fibre, and other nutrients, the cubes become suitable as a high-nutrition snack for people living in extreme conditions on Earth. The company supplies snacks and freeze-dried meals to the frontlines in Ukraine and has begun collaborating with the Lithuanian military.

“We have delivered to Ukraine multiple times. Soldiers often eat only dry rations and canned food, but they want intensely flavoured food. [...] While nothing can replace home-cooked meals, there are situations when you don’t have it, and you need functional food – that’s where our cubes come in. They are highly concentrated, natural, and nutritionally dense,” she says, adding that as warfare evolves, lightweight food alternatives will become increasingly important.

 

 

Article prepared by LRT