The cramped crew capsule hasn't nearly as much room as the ISS, and because it's designed to operate in deep space, its payload weights are much tighter. Still, it needs to carry enough food for the crew as they spend weeks or even months in long-range missions but cannot be resupplied from Earth, nor can it dump its rubbish until it returns home.

To cut down on space and weight, NASA wants astronauts to substitute breakfast for food bars. The bar has to provide enough calories as well as a carefully balanced diet, need no special storage or cooking facilities, and leave no waste beyond its minimal packaging. In addition, it needs to lightweight and have a shelf life of several years.

Commercial breakfast bars are designed for relatively sedate people who have easy access to other foods. There aren't any food bars that meet NASA's requirements and no one wants to use lifeboat rations, so NASA had to take on the task of designing it in house.

What it is working on is a breakfast bar that provides 700 to 900 calories and balanced nutrients to act as a meal substitute. The goal is to provide flavors like orange cranberry or barbecue nut to have enough taste and variety to keep morale high and the astronauts wanting to eat them even after weeks in space – though what the final bars will ultimately look and taste like has yet to be decided.

Eoin Treacy's view

We had a good laugh about this story this morning because I’ve been making my own breakfast bars for a year and personally have been very happy with the results. The fact NASA is getting in on the game is a testament to how large the sector for purportedly healthy snack foods has become. 

We had been giving our girls Clif Z bars in their lunch on the auspices that they were healthy until one day I read the ingredients. Companies now have to list high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient and because that is a not great for marketing they have substituted it with other ingredients that are even higher in fructose but do not get the same media scrutiny. Agave nectar, coconut syrup and tapioca syrup fall into that category. 

I started by making Irish soda bread with high fibre wholemeal flour. Unfortunately that lasted about 2 month before a mini rebellion took place. Now I make oatmeal bars with flaxseed, dried figs, semi-sweet dark chocolate chips, protein powder, coffee, cocoa, honey, maple syrup and a dash of vanilla extract for my girls’ lunches with no mutiny so far. At least I know what goes into them and I make a batch of 30 bars in about 40 minutes once a week.  As an aside my breakfast at 5:30am is Greek yogurt with a dash of maple syrup, a bar and a coffee. Not to put too fine a point on it but it keeps me regular.


From an investment perspective some of the largest most popular brands such as Kind, Clif and Pure Protein are privately held. Early entrants such as Kellogg and General Mills have suffered somewhat from the popularity of these upstarts and both shares have pulled back sharply over the last three months. They are both now trading below their respective trend means and breaks in their progressions of lower rally highs will be required to signal a return to demand dominance beyond short-term steadying.