EYEDEN (Eye-inspired Yielding Ecosystem for Deep-space Exploration and Nutrition) has been developed within the framework of the NASA Mars to Table Challenge and explores the integration of food production systems, life support technologies, and habitat architecture for future long-duration human missions and settlements on Mars.
The project is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration involving experts from multiple domains, including space architects, aerospace engineers, systems engineers, an astronaut, a chef, an agronomist, and an Italian aerospace startup specializing in developing smart vertical farming systems for space habitats.
The design workflow begins with defining a balanced and diversified 14-sol menu, developed by the chef to meet the crew’s nutritional requirements. The selected meals determine which ingredients and crop species must be cultivated in the greenhouse. These dietary requirements are translated into agronomic parameters, including cultivation cycles, growth conditions, planting densities, expected yields, and resource consumption. The resulting agricultural requirements are used to estimate the cultivation surface area, volumetric demands, and infrastructure needed to support food production.
The system also integrates a microalgae photobioreactor to support both food production and life-support functions. The architectural configuration results from the 14-sol menu and the agronomic requirements. It consists of two interconnected modules: one dedicated to controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) and crop cultivation, and the other devoted to crew habitation and daily activities. The internal organization of both structures follows a biomimetic design strategy bio-inspired by the human eye. Accordingly, each module is organized around a central core, while the remaining functional areas are distributed according to a concentric spatial arrangement.