Food is an important part of our life which gives us energy, nutrients,growth and helps in functioning of
different metabolic activity. “Future of Space Food “by hearing this sentence different cusins comes in our
mind with their preservation system in space.Their is a Space Food Laboratory System at the Johnson Space
Center and Space Food Research Facility that helps in the the production and development of flight food,
menus, packaging, and food-related hardware for all NASA programs including the ISS, Orion Multi-Purpose
Crew Vehicle, and the Commercial Crew Program. The Space Food Systems Laboratory is also residence of all
Advanced Food Technology. Research team are working for developing the food systems for Astronaut’s and
scientists who are working in space station so that they can get best quality and healthy food for long time
journeys and mission. While working on space food systems scientist notice that food is an important part of
their life in space for their health it should have all nutrients and should be preserve for long time in space, It
should be safe and should have limited storage system in space. So that their should be no difficult for
Astronaut’s to have their food .Scientists are trying to keep food as much as preserve and better quality in
space so that it is safe to eat for their diet.
Different organizations have different techniques for keeping food safe and clean.The Space Food Systems
Laboratory produces freeze-dried food and packages commercially available beverage powders, cookies,
candy, and other dried goods that the astronauts wants for their diet.
The Space Food Research Facility produces their food with heat-stabilized in pouches form , it is similar to as
military Meals are Ready to Eat (MREs) but developed to support the nutritional needs of astronauts in space
station.Food processing for space food depends on several factors such as quality of iteam or ingredients
used ,it’s capacity for long time period and environmental impact on the food. Several things play important
role for designing food preparation for Astronaut’s.Some of theses factors are :-
- Safety :- The food should be preapare with clean and Propar technique. It should be tested in labortary
before packaged.Food should be packed or sealed tight so that it can’t be get contaminated because of
microorganisms present in air. - Storage system :- The food should be stored with minimum quantity so that it is easy to carry for
Astronaut’s in spacecraft. It should be packed in such way that it will not take more place for storage.By
putting in cans, small pouches and using small bags to convert it into small space.
3.Taste:- The food should have good quality of taste.Good taste of food means the food is fresh, healthy and
nice to eat. Taste of food can determine whether the food can be eaten or not.
4.Nutrition:- The food system needs to provide adequate amount of nutrients while avoiding nutrition
toxicities . Nutrition toxicities can affect health of astronauts and scientists.
5.Variety:- Food should have different type, texture, and flavor of all add variety. A combination of systems
may be needed to avoid menu fatigue.
6.Resource minimization :- Food should have more resources ingredient and less waste iteam produced by
food product .
These are some things which should be kept in mind for researchers for food prossesing for space system. It
is necessary to maintain everything for food proccesing and packing to space for Astronaut’s.
Scientists are inventing new ways to solve the problem for lack of nutritious food in space. They are trying to
discover a machine which can produce food at any time for Astronaut’s. So that astronaut can make their
food easy and enjoy their meal.Some company like Space Food X is a Japanese company which are planning
for developing the food service in space by inventing new machines and new techniques of food processing.
All the countries from all over the world provides food for Astronaut’s for their health and nutrition care in
space. Also making improvements in food quality for fulfilling their needs of food.