NASA Tech Talks: Exploring the Science and Innovations Behind Space Food Systems

Name: NASA Tech Talks: Exploring the Science and Innovations Behind Space Food Systems
Start: 2025-05-22T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-22T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Ion

The event has passed

Category: Aerospace, Founders & Startups, General Community

Free

Past Event

WHEN

Thursday

May 22, 2025

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CDT

WHERE

Ion

4201 Main Street
Houston, TX 77002 + Google Map

what

We want HOU! Join us to discover NASA’s toughest tech challenges—and apply your skills and expertise to solve them.

Join us this month for an exciting NASA Tech Talk exploring the science and innovations behind space food systems—past, present, and future. As NASA prepares for extended missions to the Moon and Mars, providing astronauts with nutritious, safe, and palatable food remains a critical challenge.

Event Highlights:

Current strategies for feeding astronauts aboard the International Space Station
Food safety and quality considerations in microgravity and closed environments
The science behind the space food systems
Remaining challenges to build space food systems for the Moon, Mars, and beyond

This engaging lecture will offer insights into how NASA scientists and engineers are tackling one of the most fundamental aspects of human spaceflight: keeping astronauts healthy, fueled, and mission ready.

Please join us after the talk for drinks and networking at Second Draught!

About the Speakers

Xulei Wu serves as Food Scientist/System Manager for International Space Station and Artemis at NASA Johnson Space Center. In this role, she leads the overall management of the food system development, provisioning, production, and delivery to support Crew health and performance. She also works with other government agencies, commercial, and international partners to ensure safe and reliable food systems for low Earth orbit missions. She earned a B.S. in food science and engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a M.S. in food science and technology from Oregon State University. She has over 10 years’ experience working in food industry and government agency, with expertise on food safety, freeze drying technology, low moisture foods, shelf-life study, and sensory evaluation.

Montgomery B. Goforth has more than 40 years of experience as both Engineer and Manager in a variety of highly technical space and defense-related efforts. After working for a small defense contractor specializing in anti-submarine warfare, he joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1990. He has held leadership positions in multiple JSC Directorates and Program Offices. In his current role as Assistant Director of the JSC Engineering Directorate, he has established a framework to better focus Engineering’s efforts towards Human Spaceflight technology and systems development consistent with JSC and Agency goals for exploration. He has used this framework to guide Engineering’s internal investments and external partnerships supporting Lunar and Mars Exploration. Mr. Goforth was born in East Texas, raised in Southern California and Arizona, and graduated from Rice University (BSME 1982, MSME 1987).

About NASA Tech Talks

In these presentations, occurring the fourth Thursdays of the month, Mr. Montgomery Goforth and other aerospace subject matter experts will discuss the technology development challenges faced by NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the surrounding Aerospace community in our ongoing efforts as the hub of human spaceflight. Presentations will focus on the ways in which these challenges, and the associated opportunities, can be leveraged by Houston’s innovation community. We will continue to identify potential space/terrestrial technologies of interest to Human Spaceflight. Past NASA Tech Talks have included topics such as:

From Space to Startup: Leveraging NASA Technology and Innovation to Propel Your Growing Enterprise
Disruptive Filter Technology for Spacecraft Water Treatment: The New Promise of Graphene
Lunar dust capture using novel multiplexed inertial filter
Lunar Passive Fuel Cell Technologies:
Microbes in Space

PARKING

Ion District Parking Garage

Enter 4111 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to this parking garage, located a block from the Ion. Parking in the Ion District Garage is free for the first two hours.

Red Parking Lot

Enter 4203 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to the red parking lot, located across the street from the Ion. This lot is for overflow guest parking and tenant parking and is free for the first three hours.

For information and access to pay online for parking in the red lot, click here.

Download Map

CONTACT

Organizer

Ion

Organizer Website

ionhouston.com

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