What’s the Menu in Space?

November 29, 2021

“The universe is a mystery,

The conquering of which will make history.”

The universe has remained a huge mystery for mankind for the majority of its journey on Earth up until the past 100 years. From seeing the sky from afar to actually successfully completing missions to the moon, humanity has set its eyes upon colonizing the Universe.

By: @History in HD Link

A space trip?

Imagine you were one of the selected few, embarking on a journey to a planet far away from Earth. You may be going for research of the planet’s surface and environment, or perhaps to adapt and live there. For all we know 500 years from now, visits to other planets might be a part of the tourism industry! How would you survive? More specifically what would you eat? How would you manage to get all the necessary resources for constant food supply? Watch this video to see the food experience of astronauts in the NASA Space Station to get a feel of how it eating in space would be:

What Space Movies Depict:

Taking an immense leap forward, imagine you were travelling to Mars on a spaceship and due to dangerous reasons your crew abandoned the mission and left both you and the Red planet behind. That is exactly what happened to Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) in the Martian. His team encountered a dust storm and had to evacuate leaving behind Mark who was presumed dead. Mark has to survive in the planet and fend for himself. His primary concern is the multiple ways he could simply lose his life, and he starts focusing on maximizing his chances of survival. To wait for 4 years for the next Mars trip to rescue him, he needs food worth 4 years which he simply doesn’t have!

Growing Food In Space?

Approximately, Mark has 1 years worth of food while he needs 3 more, he decides there is a need to grow the deficit, but in his words “on a planet where nothing grows”. This is one of the problems astronauts will face when on other planets they try to set up food systems for sufficient and self-sustaining growth of food plants. Mark is able to use his expertise as a botanist to use bacteria he has, gather Martian soil from outside his ship and use stored potatoes to grow some more which he is able to successfully pull off. Scientists travelling into space will have to have necessary resources such as bacteria, seeds, water, minerals (perhaps earth soil itself) on their ship along with rationing ability of food from the get-go. Furthermore, scientists from NASA estimate a round trip to Mars as one of 5 years, whereas the shelf life of food they have has one and a half to three year shelf life. To put it simply, a NASA representative said, “Rockets need rocket fuel. Humans need human fuel. And human fuel is food”. Watch this amazing video to learn more on how NASA is tackling the food problem for its mission to mars:

The Water Crisis:

In the Martian, Mark uses hydrazine he has to acquire hydrogen and burns it with oxygen to produce more water. While Mark had an explosion occur in his face, he was successful in his second attempt which brings us to the question of how practical producing water in space is. Hydrogen is very reactive and processes involving it are indeed dangerous which in space poses immense threat. NASA has been developing a far more efficient system refining it over the years which uses the Sabatier process which is a “well- established water production technology”. The greatest benefit of this method is that it uses left over waste hydrogen and the carbon-dioxide produced by the humans on-board and converts it into water and methane! This major breakthrough for space cuts down requirement of constant resupplying of water bringing down costs tremendously. More importantly, it is a big step towards self-sustainability of the space stations that will spread throughout the Universe one day as water is necessary for life!

Photo Credit: mrjn Photography Link

Dealing With Mineral Deficiencies:

Vitamins and minerals have a major role in keeping our body healthy. Scientists fear vitamin C deficiency in space could lead to astronauts developing scurvy. Vitamin D will not be produced as astronauts are protected from sunlight to avoid damage from cosmic rays. Let us not forget the flight and transition to space along with absence of gravity is one of the most stressful things a person can experience. This causes the astronaut’s immunity systems to be compromised immediately. While pills may serve the purpose, such is the importance of growth of vegetables to provide nutrients in space to serve the body with fresh food to not only maintain their physical health but mental strength as well. After all, pills may run out but a sustainable food system which provide rounded diets are necessary for longer missions.

Photo Credit: Amber @lifeinspired Link

Scientific Breakthrough and Conclusions:

In 2015 in the University of Arizona, researchers formed a greenhouse which grows sweet potatoes and strawberries with a yield of ten times that of the normal farm by mixing water and nutrients. Such innovation carry forwarded to space will lead to immense possibilities due to potential extended travel. Space itself is a vast reality full of wonders to explore and conquer. It takes great courage to make the impossible possible and who knows, human progress has shown us again and again that today’s impossible is tomorrow’s daily doing. So sit back, relax and appreciate the process or get moving to make history for stories of today will be told as glorious undertakings tomorrow.