While area businesses have their eyes set on astronaut missions to the moon, Mars and past, there are fairly a number of hurdles in the way in which — and one of many largest is meals.
As it stands, meals is produced on Earth, then transported to the International Space Station (ISS). While that is possible for missions in low Earth orbit, it is impractical (pricey at finest, and technically unfeasible at worst) for extra distant locations.
“This project aims at developing a key resource which will allow us to improve human spaceflight’s autonomy, resilience and also the well-being of our astronauts,” Angelique Van Ombergen, ESA’s chief exploration scientist, said in a statement. “For human beings to be able to implement long-duration missions on the moon, or even one day to go to Mars, will require innovative and sustainable solutions to be able to survive with limited supplies.”
Solein could possibly be one such resolution. It’s a extremely versatile powdered protein from Finnish meals expertise firm Solar Foods that is constructed from microbes, air and electrical energy, by way of a gasoline fermentation course of.
While Solar Foods has demonstrated the expertise on Earth, barely completely different methods will have to be utilized in area. For occasion, on Earth, ammonia serves as a nitrogen supply for protein synthesis. But in area, the supply can be urea — an natural compound present in urine.
Over the subsequent eight months, Solar Foods will work with prime contractor OHB System AG on the bottom to develop the expertise obligatory to check Solein manufacturing in area. If profitable, Solein manufacturing would then be examined aboard the ISS.
“The aim of the project is to confirm that our organism grows in the space environment as it does on the ground, and to develop the fundamentals of gas fermentation technology to be used in space — something that has never been done before in the history of humankind,” Arttu Luukanen, senior vice chairman of area and defence at Solar Foods, stated in a press release.
“The behavior of gases and liquids in microgravity is vastly different due to lack of buoyancy, which can drastically affect the transport of nutrients and gases for Solein microbes,” Luukanen added.