Nigerian-American researcher Chinyere “Chichi” Ukeje has won the top prize of $300,000 in NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table competition, after developing an innovative food system designed to help astronauts produce and prepare food during long-duration missions to Mars.

Ukeje, a 25-year-old Philadelphia-based computer science graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, won the first-place prize for her Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure (ANI) concept. The system was selected from 113 submissions involving participants from 33 countries and 28 U.S. states.

ANI is designed as a modular food ecosystem that combines controlled-environment agriculture, fermentation, fungi cultivation and closed-loop nutrient recycling through bioreactors. The system is intended to allow astronauts to produce about 50% of their food away from Earth while reducing dependence on supplies transported from Earth.

The concept also focuses on resilience. NASA said ANI is designed to continue operating during shortages of power, water, equipment or crew time while allowing fresh meals to be prepared regularly.

The challenge was created because conventional packaged space food would be difficult to rely on during a Mars mission. NASA estimates that a one-way journey to Mars would take at least nine months, while transporting enough food for an extended mission would create significant problems involving weight, storage and shelf life.

Participants were therefore asked to design a complete food system capable of supporting a hypothetical crew of 15 astronauts for 500 Martian sols, equivalent to approximately 513 Earth days. Each entry had to include a system design, meal plan, operational concept and walkthrough video.

Ukeje’s proposal goes beyond simply growing food. Her concept includes nutritious food cubes that astronauts could heat using portable electric lunch boxes and turn into familiar meals such as tacos and pasta. The approach is intended not only to meet nutritional needs but also to provide astronauts with a sense of comfort and familiarity while millions of miles from Earth.

The name Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure also has a connection to Ukeje’s Nigerian heritage. ANI is named after the Nigerian Earth goddess of harvest and fertility, reflecting her family’s Nigerian roots.

Ukeje spent part of her childhood in Maryland and later attended high school in Nigeria before returning to the United States. She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is now pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at Johns Hopkins University.

NASA awarded a total of $650,000 to five U.S. winning teams in the 2026 Mars to Table challenge. Ukeje received the $300,000 first prize, while Cislune of California won $200,000 for second place. Three other teams received $50,000 awards in different categories, while an international team from Belgium was also recognized.

Ukeje’s achievement highlights how computer science, food technology, agriculture and systems engineering can come together to address one of the major challenges of future human exploration: how to provide astronauts with safe, nutritious and sustainable food far from Earth.

She has indicated that she hopes to use part of the prize money to further research into food technology and deep-space innovation.