Food
High yield, low resource, climate resilient.
Food production is approached as a biological system integrated with water, air, and energy for predictable output in harsh conditions.
The problem
Food fails when water, power, and climate do.
Traditional agriculture assumes stable climate and abundant resources. In constrained environments, yield volatility becomes a critical failure mode.
Research focus
Resilient food output without seasonal dependence.
- Crop genetics for high yield per unit of energy
- Low-water and brackish-tolerant cultivation
- Multi-crop co-cultivation in controlled environments
- Vertical and modular agriculture for dense or remote sites
- Aquaculture integration to close nutrient loops
Inside the loop
Grow, convert, return.
Food is the least-closed loop in every remote operation, on or off Earth — the ISS now recovers ~98% of its water yet recycles 0% of its food. Heliphere treats food production as biological infrastructure: the same organisms that grow calories also scrub CO₂, release O₂, transpire clean water, and digest waste.
The seven food sub-loops as one process chain: cultivation systems (top row) feed the crew and the air loop, while inedible biomass and waste streams cascade into conversion sub-loops (bottom row) that turn residues back into protein, mushrooms, and fermented ingredients. Every stream is coloured by the loop it exchanges with. Electricity is drawn once for clarity — every sub-loop draws from the energy loop.
0%
of food is recycled in spaceflight today — every meal is still shipped from Earth
0.62 kg
of dry food sustains one person for a day (NASA BVAD) — every module's design target
~25 m²
of high-yield crops can supply one person's entire oxygen demand while growing their food
Up to 95%
less water than open-field agriculture — even transpired vapour is recaptured as condensate
System connections
The food system does more than feed people.
A well-designed cultivation system is simultaneously the air purification system, a major water recycler, and the primary organic waste processor — delivering multiple life-support functions from one biological process.
- → Air — O₂ from photosynthesis; biological CO₂ scrubbing at no additional cost
- → Water — 70–95% of absorbed water returned as vapour via transpiration
- → Materials — inedible biomass, roots, and processing waste as feedstock
- ← Air — CO₂ routed directly to plant canopies as crop fertiliser
- ← Water — clean irrigation water and dissolved nutrient delivery
- ← Materials — compost and biochar returned as soil amendment
Shipped as standard modules
The food loop in 20ft boxes.
The reference architecture packs each food sub-loop into standardised 20 ft ISO containers — one physical interface, one control plane, deployable by road, rail, sea, or launch vehicle.
HF-01
Fresh Produce
Vertical hydroponic and aeroponic rack walls with nursery station, LED arrays, recirculating nutrient dosing skid, dehumidification and HVAC, and a Helix edge sensor node.
HF-02
Staple Crop
High-PPFD growth racks configured for dwarf wheat, potato, and soy, with elevated CO₂ dosing and the intensive thermal management staple light levels demand.
HF-03
Aquaponics
RAS fish tanks (~10 m³ total), rotating drum filter, MBBR biofilter, UV steriliser, degassing and aeration, and integrated plant grow beds.
HF-04
Bioconversion Protein
Two climate cells in one box: BSF rearing trays with nursery alongside humidity-controlled mushroom fruiting rooms, plus substrate pasteuriser and frass handling.
HF-05
Bioreactor
Flat-panel and tubular algae photobioreactors under LED illumination, plus a sterile fermentation vessel, harvest centrifuge, and low-temperature drying line.
HF-06
Processing & Cold Chain
Wash and pack line, dehydrator, mill, blast chiller, and insulated cold store, with food-safety monitoring tied into Helix.
HF-07 · Concept
Fold-out Greenhouse
Ships as a 14 m² box, grows as a ~120 m² tented canopy. The core bay carries the nutrient reservoir, dosing, pumps, climate unit and Helix control; the rest of the module is a deployment magazine of folded arch frames, ETFE membrane rolls and stacked NFT channels that unfold from the door end into a sunlit growing tent many times the shipped footprint. Sunlight does the work grow lighting otherwise has to — the single largest energy line in the food loop.
structurehidden detail (x-ray)envelope / keep-outplan view · 20 ft HC ISO · concept design
Development focus
Crops designed for the loop, not the field.
Controlled Environment Agriculture
Decoupling food from climate
Fully enclosed growing systems eliminate dependence on seasonal cycles, weather, and soil. Precise control of light, temperature, humidity and CO₂ enables continuous, predictable food output regardless of external conditions.
Hydroponics & Aeroponics
Growing without soil
Nutrient-film, deep-water culture and aeroponic systems deliver water and minerals directly to roots. These approaches reduce water use by up to 95% compared to soil cultivation and integrate directly with closed-loop water and nutrient management.
Aquaponics
Fish and plants in a closed loop
Integrated fish and plant systems see fish waste providing nutrients for crops while plant roots clean the water for fish. These systems produce both protein and vegetables from a single water volume, closing the nutrient cycle without external fertiliser inputs.
Algae Cultivation
High-yield micro-crop
Algae cultivation systems simultaneously produce protein and lipids for food, consume CO₂ from the air loop, and generate oxygen as a continuous byproduct. Algae offer the highest biomass yield per unit area of any known crop.
Crop Genetics
Optimising for the loop
Crop varieties are selected and developed for high yield per unit of light, water and nutrient input. The focus is on cultivars that maximise caloric and nutritional output in artificial environments while minimising waste biomass and resource consumption.
Insect Protein
Efficient protein conversion
Insect farming systems convert organic waste streams into high-quality protein and lipids. Insects convert food waste to edible biomass at significantly higher efficiency than conventional livestock, closing the loop between food waste and food production.
Precision Fermentation
Biology as a factory
Microorganisms are used to produce proteins, fats, vitamins and flavour compounds without conventional agriculture. Fermentation systems run on simple feedstocks, operate in small footprints, and integrate directly with organic waste and CO₂ streams from other loops.
Biochar & Soil Biology
Rebuilding biological fertility
Biochar production from food waste and its application as a long-lived soil amendment builds fertility from within the system. Biochar improves water retention, supports beneficial microbial communities, and sequesters carbon — closing the nutrient cycle without external inputs.
Beyond Earth
The same loop, off Earth.
On the Moon and Mars, food flips from the most open loop to the anchor of closure. There is no usable soil — Martian regolith carries plant-toxic perchlorates — so hydroponics, bioreactors, and insect and fungal conversion must carry the entire diet, with every gram of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium recovered from urine and waste streams rather than imported. Lighting becomes fully artificial: the 14-day lunar night and months-long Martian dust storms rule out reliable sunlight, making the ~90–140 kWh per person-day photosynthetic energy bill the single largest driver of the energy loop and pushing light-free routes — gas fermentation of protein from CO₂ and hydrogen — from novelty to necessity. In exchange, the crop modules become the habitat's primary biological air and water regenerators, and every kilogram of food grown in situ displaces launch mass costed at thousands of dollars per kilogram.