Lithuania just added a new chapter to Europe’s space commercialisation story.
Super Garden, a food innovation company, has launched Space Snacks. Two products: Space Snacks with spirulina and Space Snacks with an innovative protein. Both inspired by ESA research.
The backstory:
These snacks began as an ESA funded research project. Super Garden worked alongside CNES, the French Space Agency. Medes, the Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology. And Biordico.
The goal: develop next generation snack concepts for potential use in space.
The result: nine grams of compact freeze-dried cubes enriched with spirulina and chlorella, developed for the weight and volume limits of spaceflight. Selected for nutritional and functional value. Not every ingredient tested made it to market. Some are still awaiting authorisation under the EU’s Novel Food regulatory framework.
A longer-term angle worth noting: some of these ingredients could potentially be manufactured in space itself. Spirulina and chlorella are both candidates for in orbit cultivation, given their role in closed loop life support research. Protein could follow a similar path through mushroom based mycelium, already studied as a compact, fast growing protein source for long duration missions. If that pathway develops, the line between “food inspired by space” and “food produced in space” starts to blur.
There is also a personalisation angle. Custom space snacks, tailored to an individual astronaut’s nutritional needs, are a plausible extension of this technology. Long duration missions demand precise nutrition. Manufacturing on demand, matched to an astronaut’s specific requirements, is a logical next step for these snacks.
Why the current launch matters:
The products carry an ESA trademark license, reflecting their origin in ESA funded research. Super Garden already builds special purpose food for the defence sector. High nutritional value. Low weight. Long shelf life. Reliability under extreme conditions. Space Snacks build directly on that patented technology base.
Laura Kaziukonienė, Founder and CEO of Super Garden, put it simply: research funded by ESA becomes a product anyone can taste.
The products reach consumers in August 2026, initially at museum and science institution shops. Super Garden exports to more than 40 countries.
The bigger picture:
European space agencies are increasingly structuring research funding to end in commercial products, not just technical reports. ESA trademark licensing is one mechanism making that transition visible to consumers.
Image Credit: Super Garden
References:
Space Snacks Inspired by ESA: A Lithuanian First Reaches the Market
First Lithuanian Space Snacks Presented in Panevėžys – An Innovation Developed in Collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA)
https://www.supergarden.lt/en/blog/first-lithuanian-space-snacks-presented
Cold beet soup in space? – Panevežys company develops space-ready snacks
https://www.supergarden.lt/en/blog/cold-beet-soup-in-space-panevezys-company