'Scientific salad' developed for astronauts

[Kyng]

https://astronomy.com/news/2023/03/a-sci...deep-space


(Source: Above article)

An international team of scientists have developed a “space salad” that can keep astronauts well-nourished on future missions into deep space.

The salad consists of seven ingredients — soybeans, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and sweet potatoes, all in carefully measured amounts — that can be grown in small enclosures on a spacecraft and fulfill the nutritional needs of astronauts on long-duration trips.

Researchers from Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. chose the ingredients based on their nutritional value, growth rate, water and space requirements, and the amount of inedible waste produced.

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First of all, I'd like to thank Detective Osprey for sharing this with me .

Anyway, this does look more tempting than the 'toothpaste tubes' and the freeze-dried foods that we think of when we hear about space food . I suppose it'd get rather samey if eaten every day, but at least it'd keep the astronauts nourished without consuming loads of the spacecraft's limited resources!

[Detective Osprey]

I want the recipe for this, it looks tasty! And I’m happy for the astronauts!

[ZandraJoi]

Very good nutritional wise! While I haven't had all those together at one time, it doesn't look bad.

[Pyrite]

Interesting, and I'm glad they are trying to give astronauts a better quality of life while they are in space.

I assume they will be making different versions of this to cater for allergies though? The inclusion of peanuts in a ubiquitous space food would be a grave mistake.

[Kyng]

Interesting, and I'm glad they are trying to give astronauts a better quality of life while they are in space.

I assume they will be making different versions of this to cater for allergies though? The inclusion of peanuts in a ubiquitous space food would be a grave mistake.

Good point: I'd never even thought of that!

I'd be interested to know how they handle allergies, i.e. whether they have a different version of this, or if they'd just give them some other food. (Or simply choose astronauts who don't have those allergies - although, that would strike me as letting the tail wag the dog !)