A team of researchers is designing a salad made from ingredients that can be grown in space to feed astronauts on missions to other planets
Imagine embarking on a multi-year journey to Mars while subsisting on packaged, unappetizing meals. As space agencies plan longer missions, they face the challenge of how best to feed people. Researchers report in ACS Food Science & Technology that they have developed the optimal space meal: a delicious vegetarian salad. They selected fresh ingredients that meet the specific nutritional needs of male astronauts and can be grown in space.
Astronauts in space burn more calories than people on Earth and need additional micronutrients like calcium to stay healthy even in prolonged weightlessness. In addition, future long-term missions will require sustainable and circular food cultivation within the spacecraft or space colonies. Although methods for growing food in space and the nutrients astronauts need to stay healthy have been researched, no specific fresh meals have been developed. That's why Volker Hessel and his colleagues wanted to optimize a space food that meets the special requirements of space travel and is also tasty.
First, researchers evaluated combinations of fresh ingredients using a method called linear programming, which computationally balances different variables to achieve a specific goal. In this case, their model identified how well combinations of different foods could meet a male astronaut's daily nutritional needs while minimizing the water needed to grow the food. The team was also concerned about the sustainability of food in space, selecting ingredients that required little fertilizer, time and space to grow, and whether inedible parts could be recycled.
They found that of the ten scenarios studied, a vegetarian meal made from soybeans, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potatoes or sunflower seeds provided the most efficient balance between maximum nutrients and minimum plant input. Although this combination might not provide all of the micronutrients an astronaut needs, the researchers suggest that the missing micronutrients could be added in a supplement.
To ensure that the identified combination was tasty, the team prepared the ideal space food as a salad for four people to try here on Earth. One tester gave rave reviews and “wouldn't mind eating this like an astronaut all week.” Others were more reserved in their praise, although they came back for seconds. In the future, the researchers want to find out what possibilities their computational model offers for astronauts and expand the plant diversity in their database.
REFERENCE
Modeling space fruit-based dishes to provide optimal nutrition to astronauts and beyond on Earth
Photo: A salad based on soy, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potatoes and sunflower seeds could be the optimal meal for men on longer space missions. CREDIT: ACS FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023