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Ridge Hamre
UWRT 1102
Professor Otis
11/9/14
A Sustainable Diet for Space Exploration
Food has issues on Earth such as availability and pollution, but in order to go to space,
food has a stricter set of guidelines that it must pass. Many foods are ruled out for space flight
altogether. The foods eaten must first and foremost give the eater the nutrient rich and diverse
diet needed to continue living. Storage space is considered for food as well. For example, if
plants are going to be grown for food in our exploration of space, scientists must consider how
much room is required for the technology to grow healthy plant life in environments different
than Earth. Food also plays a psychological role during extended periods of isolation in space. It
can represent home and keep astronauts sane. Recycling is a complex issue that must also be
dealt with as a result of the space farming. Im interested in the technologies we have and those
we need to improve so that sustainable food outside of Earth can be achieved.
The space diet is restricted through a set of guidelines optimized for crew safety and
satisfaction, most food on the ISS [International Space Station] is provided through the
permanent ISS menu(CSA). According to the Canadian Space Agency, Astronauts select some
of the foods they want to eat in space several months before launch(CSA). Food must meet the
standards and regulations set for consumption in space including long shelf-life, does not
produce many crumbs, can be prepared on orbit using the ISS galley (water dispenser,
convection oven), and can be easily consumed on orbit(CSA). There are six different forms that

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space food comes in; fresh, intermediate moisture, irradiated, natural form, rehydratable, and
thermostabilized.
Interestingly enough, the reasoning behind the regulations is just as important as the
regulations themselves. Shelf life is important because food has to be able to last in cases where
resupply missions arent successful, such as the recent cargo shuttle Antares launch failure on
the 28th of October. Crumbs are strictly outlawed in zero gravity kitchens because they could be
breathed in or get into an astronauts eyes. Food preparation aboard the ISS in particular needs to
be kept to a minimum to ensure efficiency of the crews time and because there are no extensive
kitchens aboard the ISS.
Since the ISS has a crew aboard for months at a time, prelaunch planning is necessary to
insure food availability for the astronauts. The astronauts receive regularly scheduled supply
ships to restock on food. However, they must also insure that enough food will be aboard the ISS
in cases of a missed shipment. The crew is fed three meals and two snacks daily. In addition to
this diet, they also take subsidy pills to make up for the lack of vitamin D they would normally
be getting from sun exposure. Being able to grow their own plants would greatly reduce the
dependence that the ISS has on supply ships.
While they have grown plants on the ISS before it was for experimental purposes and not
for survival. Growing plants can have mental health benefits, as stated in an article from Modern
Farmer, they act as a form of emotional sustenance called horticultural therapy(Allen). This
type of therapy can reduce stress, improve moods, and help with depression which someone
might feel when confined inside for long periods of time. Astronauts may benefit from growing
their food in mental ways along with physically having food to eat. One astronaut named Don
Pettit talks about his experience growing zucchini, broccoli, and sunflower plants, It was

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delightful to have those plants around, to feel the little hairs on a leaf tickle your nose, to see that
sunflower in full bloom. It changed our whole experience. The plants may not have been eaten
due to scientists wanting to do tests on the plants first, but they proved that plants can be grown
in a zero gravity simulated environment. The plants symbolically tie the astronauts back to Earth
and all that they left behind upon breaking free of the Earthly atmosphere.
Chris Hadfield, a CSA Astronaut, describes the difference of taste on Earth versus space
as a side effect of loss of gravity. Eating in space is like eating with a head cold(Chris
Hadfield). The body is used to pumping blood up to the head against the pull of gravity so when
exposed to less gravity the head is pumped full of more blood than normal causing congested
sinuses until the body can reach equilibrium again. This congestion causes food to have a bland
taste, making spices a favorite among astronauts.
When dealing with food in space sustainability is important. Astronauts cannot simply
make a late night waffle run to their friendly orbiting Waffle House. They have to rely on
scheduled supply trips to sustain a proper diet in space. It is the scheduled supply trips that have
PhD students at MIT worried. They fear that the supply trips themselves will be unsustainable
due to the projected cost of shipping and the volume of material that will need to be shipped. The
Mars One foundation has the sole purpose of setting up a permanent human settlement on Mars.
But unlike on the ISS, Mars One expects to grow crops indoors on Mars(Rafi Letzter). They
plan on sustaining this early settlement by carrying out cargo missions before sending humans as
well as regular resupply missions. The supply trips would be mostly replacement parts for
machines, a huge portion of the mass included in the initial launch would have to be extra
materials(Letzter) leaving less room for food.

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If aboard the ISS there was a food shortage a resupply mission or transport back to Earth
could be arranged relatively quick compared to the hypothetical Mars colony who will not have a
manned resupply mission coming for another two years(Letzter) after the initial crew land. The
crew in that situation would have to rely heavily on the ability to farm a sustainable source of
food and the ability to control oxygen levels from plant emission. The CEO of Mars One said,
The major challenge of Mars One is keeping everything up and running(Letzter). When trying
to establish a settlement on Mars there is no quitting because funding was lost or a part broke.
Lives are on the line.
A recent article from NASA confidently stated that even though safely sending human
explorers to and from Mars will be the challenge of a generation [] Mars contains critical
resources that can sustain human presence(NASA). The technology to harvest and utilize those
resources currently exists and NASA, being the beautiful connoisseurs of the future that they are,
happens to be investing in it. What is it that they are investing in? Well its just In-Situ Resource
Utilization (ISRU). The ISRU deals with the ability to find and use natural resources beyond
Earth(NASA). For example, the ISRU does things such as siphoning breathable air and useable
water from the Martian environment. Those resources are essential ingredients for creating farms
of diverse plant life suitable to the growing environment and hopefully making those expeditions
self-reliant. Since it will take humans more than six months to reach Mars with current
propulsion systems(NASA), it would be beneficial to not run out of life sustaining resources
because the result would be an unfortunate Fox News story about how this failed attempt at
colonizing Mars is linked to Obama care and why you should vote Republican. The ability to
produce resources on site means more room in the shuttle for life sustaining food, or maybe a

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custom Mars snowmobile with dual mounted machine guns and lots of flashing highly efficient
LED lights for science reasons of course and because America.
A Popular Science Magazine article about astronauts starving on the Mars One mission
cited a study published by PhD students at MIT. The study discusses our current TRL or
technology readiness level and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). In the study the authors state
that If crops are used as the sole food source, they will produce unsafe
oxygen levels in the habitat, and that the ISRU technology required to produce nitrogen,
oxygen, and water on the surface of Mars is at a relatively low Technology Readiness Level
(Do, 1). This means that being able to recycle and control resources is a vital part of
sustainability and the optimal TRL has not yet been reached. Being able to provide the resources
plants need to grow as well as control the levels of oxygen given off by plants is necessary for a
sustainable indoor space farm.
In another article written for Popular Science Magazine, Sarah Fecht discusses a study in
which plants were grown in Martian and lunar soil simulant. Fecht quotes the Netherlands
scientists in charge of the study on their results saying Our results show that in principle it is
possible to grow crops and other plant species in Martian and Lunar soil simulants. Of course
the soil simulants were not perfect replications and other factors such as gravity, radiation, and
light intensity of other worlds were not the focus of the study.
Colonizing the Moon or Mars will require not only sustainable plants but also a
permanent residence that relies heavily on the advances we can make here on Earth. The
technologies needed for living beyond our home will undoubtedly contribute to major advances
for living on Earth. For example, our growing of staple crops in a nutrient and space efficient
way is important for colonist with little space available but also to feed a growing population on

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Earth. The use of LEDs to simulate sunlight so that plants may grow where the sun does not
shine is a technology absolutely required for food sustainability in space that we can use here on
Earth, even though we get sunlight so that we may grow vertical farms and farms that operate
both in daylight and during the night time. If the thrill of pioneering the future and the adventure
of a lifetime are not enough to justify space exploration then hopefully improving the lives of the
Earthlings with advances in technology due to the research and development cost of taking on
the last and greatest frontier will persuade non-believers to reconsider.

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Works Cited

CSA, "Eating In Space." Canadian Space Agency Website. 4 Aug. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Do, Sydney, Koki Ho, Samuel Schreiner, Andrew Owens, and Olivier De Weck. AN
INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF THE MARS ONE
MISSION PLAN (2014): 1-35. Web.mit.edu. Web.

Fecht, Sarah. "Crops Grow On Fake Moon And Mars Soil." Popular Science. 09 Sept. 2014.
Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

Hirsch, Jesse. "Space Farming: The Final Frontier - Modern Farmer." Modern Farmer. 10 Sept.
2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

Letzer, Rafi. "MIT Students Claim Astronauts Will Starve On 'Mars One' Mission." Popular
Science. 11 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

"Living off the Land in the Final Frontier." NASA. NASA, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.