Gastronaut LLC

GASTRONAUT™

GROW ANYWHERE

The platform that closes the
600-day deep-space nutrition gap

+1.86

SD Nrf2 pathway activation above baseline.

Validated growth cycles. Peer-reviewed in npj Microgravity 2025.

$487B

Addressable market by 2040. We are the picks and shovels.

Explore the Mission Read the Field Notes

The Engineering Gap

Crew Health Has Hit
a Physiological Ceiling.
Gastronaut Raises It.

Today's astronauts perform extraordinary work on rations engineered for a different era. The data below shows where the gap is. The next section shows how we close it.

Calcium uptake gap in current space crops. Gastronaut CRISPR varieties close it. (npj Microgravity 2025)

Flavonoid headroom for radiation-shielding compounds. Our trays deliver them daily.

Of long-duration crews show ocular changes (SANS). First nutrition-based countermeasure with peer-reviewed pathway data.

Taste perception recovery in zero-G via fresh sulforaphane and anthocyanin profiles. Crew morale, restored.

+1.86

Standard deviations of Nrf2 pathway activation above baseline. Six independent studies, 124 crew analogs.

Cognitive performance lift potential after 120 days. Decision-making preserved at the moments that matter most.

"Diet and exercise, proper nutrition and resistive exercise in space. It's a breakthrough that doesn't get enough credit." John Grunsfeld, Former NASA Chief Scientist, 41st Space Symposium, April 2026

"We were eating from tubes. Today's crews deserve a salad bar at L1." Brian Lichorowic, Founder & CEO, Gastronaut LLC

The Mars math, rewritten.

Without intervention, crews lose body mass through every phase of a long-duration mission. The decline plateaus, then erodes again as physiological reserves run down.

Gastronaut closes the gap with fresh, peer-reviewed phytonutrient profiles delivered daily. The green band shows the projected trajectory with ORCA onboard.

Baseline (no countermeasure) With Gastronaut

Body Mass Trajectory Over Mission Duration

Modeled from npj Microgravity 2025 + JSC crew analog cohort. Bands show 1-sigma confidence interval.

The Platform

The platform that closes
crew health at the source.

Gastronaut is not a garden. It is a combined life-support subsystem delivering nutrition, atmospheric processing, gut-brain protection, and vision support in a single standalone enclosure.

Click any panel to explore ↓

One Platform. Four Systems.

ORCA integrates CRISPR-edited microgreen production, atmospheric processing, behavioral nutrition delivery, and vision-protective phytochemistry into a single standalone enclosure. Continuous output. Closed-loop water. Edge automation.

1,042

Validated growth cycles

Gastronaut G-Space Platform · npj Microgravity 2025

2.0 m

Enclosure diameter

150-200 kg

Cluster mass (TRL 4 target)

24 RPM

Nominal rotation

ORCA unit installed on station, drum open, eight wedge trays under the central light column

Four Functions. All Compounding.

Every ORCA platform delivers four overlapping mission-critical functions. They compound, which is why the unit economics close where competitors stall at single-function payloads.

Cellular Defense (Nrf2)

+1.86 SD

CRISPR edits produce 2.3 to 3.1 times more protective enzymes. The body's master switch for cellular self-repair, activated by sulforaphane from broccoli microgreens.

Atmospheric Processing

20 to 25%

120 to 240 mmol of CO2 scrubbed per day. Roughly one quarter of an astronaut's daily atmospheric load. Gastronaut moves from consumable to ECLSS subsystem.

Brain Protection (Gut Health)

d = 0.84

Prebiotic-rich microgreens maintain gut microbiome integrity via the gut-brain axis. LunAres analog: +1.78 SD behavioral improvement across 30 studies, n = 2,071.

Vision Protection (SANS)

75% addressable

75% of long-duration astronauts develop optic disc edema. B-vitamin delivery plus Nrf2-mediated retinal protection. Validated by JAMA Ophthalmology, 2024.

Full Offset. Zero Decline.

Combined analysis of 28 independent studies. The model explains 71% of variation in crew wellbeing. Every contributing factor is statistically significant at p < 0.01.

-1.86 SD

600-day decline

+1.86 SD

Gastronaut benefit

0.00

Net effect

"The largest wellbeing gain ever recorded in space analogs." d = +1.78 · LunAres Protocol · 30 studies, n = 2,071

2.3 to 3.1x

more protective enzymes vs unmodified plants

Five Pillars. All Compounding.

At the 41st Space Symposium, no panelist mentioned a single competitor. Gastronaut holds inbound interest from three national space agencies, including JAXA, ISRO, and the Canadian Space Agency. No partnership or agreement with any agency is established.

Patent Applied For

Centrifuge and automation IP, plus CRISPR crop variety IP, in preparation. No patent has been issued or allowed.

1,042 Growth Cycles

Proprietary data from Gastronaut's G-Space platform. Years to replicate. Cannot be purchased.

Peer-Reviewed

npj Microgravity 2025. No competitor has achieved published results.

First-Mover Window

Station integration 2026 to 2028. After stations are built, retrofitting is cost-prohibitive.

Nrf2 Pathway Science

No competitor operates at the pathway level. Generic antioxidants already failed. This is the scientific moat.