Pizza printouts? NASA funds project to make space meals with 3-D printer

In a video made for Tested.com, chef Traci Des Jardins helps Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield spice up his meals on the International Space Station. Avoiding food boredom is one of the issues facing long-term spacefliers. Will 3-D-printed pizzas help?

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

NASA won't be printing out pizzas on Mars anytime soon, but the space agency is paying out $125,000 to study the use of 3-D printing technology for food preparation in space.

"We will be building the components for a prototype" over the grant's six-month period, David Irwin, principal investigator for the project at Texas-based Systems and Materials Research Consultancy, told NBC News.

The ideas is to use a 3-D printer to turn generic mixes of starch, protein and fat into textured foodie-type elements, and then add flavorings with an inkjet device. The result? Theoretically, you could have a warm slice of crusty-type starch material topped with fake cheese, sauce and pepperoni.

SMRC's Irwin was reluctant to discuss the project in detail, in part because the contract with NASA for a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant had not yet been signed. But he was optimistic about the long-term prospect: "We're going to do great things," he said.

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NASA spokesman David Steitz said the contract was finally signed on Wednesday. The project is part of the space agency's effort to widen the menu options for future space travelers when they head out to Mars or a near-Earth asteroid. Right now, astronauts are eating mostly pre-packaged, pre-processed, shelf-stable foods. But that won't work for a trip to the Red Planet.

"The current food system is not adequate in nutrition or acceptability through the five-year shelf life required for a mission to Mars, or other long-duration missions," Steitz said in an email.

Steitz stressed that the Phase I study is just one small step in what's likely to be a years-long effort to build a 3-D space food printer. "There's a lot between this and a pizza," he told NBC News.

Hello, 'Star Trek'
3-D printing technology could open the way toward the kinds of food synthesizers you've seen in 45-year-old episodes of "Star Trek." Basic unflavored ingredients could be kept in long-term storage ? up to 30 years, according to a report on the project published by Quartz. The 3-D printer?could build up different blends of the basics with different textures. Food-specific flavorings could be sprayed onto the components of synthetic food. Thus, the same device could turn out pizzas on one day, and tacos on the next.

"It has some merit as a way to avoid some of the problems that are currently experienced with the limited shelf life of the pre-prepared foods that are used by the astronauts," said Jean Hunter, a space food researcher at Cornell University who isn't involved with the 3-D-printing project. "One of the keys to having a good food system is to have a lot of variety."

SMRC's proposal to NASA says that "the biggest advantage of 3-D printed food technology will be zero waste, which is essential in long-distance space missions."

SMRC's Anjan Contractor conducted an initial 3-D printer experiment that put chocolate on a flat cookie. The next objective is to create a 3-D-printed pizza.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2c45a7fb/l/0Lcosmiclog0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C220C184246490Epizza0Eprintouts0Enasa0Efunds0Eproject0Eto0Emake0Espace0Emeals0Ewith0E30Ed0Eprinter0Dlite/story01.htm

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