WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.759 Oh hey, it's the lady with her overcoat sticking out 2 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.320 of the car door. Ali Ward, this is Ologies. I 3 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:08.039 hope you have an appetite for airplane food like no 4 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:13.640 other astrobramatology and it's delicious, is it? Let's talk? But first, 5 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.679 thank you to all the patrons who were hungry for 6 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:18.320 information about this ology. You send in your questions ahead 7 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.800 of time. You two can support ologies and joining patron 8 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:23.280 dot com slash Ologies for Sili is a buck a month. 9 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.640 Huge shout out to patron Jillian Dugan, who this week 10 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:31.199 got an Ologies tattoo. Jillian, it is wonderful to spend 11 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:33.640 life with you. I could not be more honored. Also, 12 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:37.000 thank you to folks out there in lower commitment Ologies 13 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.479 merch from ologiesmerch dot com, including shirts and hats and tots. 14 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:44.719 Smologies is our spinoff show of shorter, kid friendly and 15 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.000 classroom safe episodes you can find where we get podcasts. Also, 16 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.280 thank you to everyone who reviews the show. I read 17 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:52.920 them all and they help so much to remind me 18 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.119 I'm not recording in a dark room just for myself. 19 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.679 Like this week's from nature lover Katie Twoshoes, who wrote, 20 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.039 thank you, I am richer for your work and mushroom screams. 21 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:06.640 I appreciate you taking Ologies along on your owl banding trip. 22 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.959 Also thank you to the sponsor to the show who 23 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:10.879 make it possible for us to donate to a charity 24 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:12.879 of the ologists choosing each week. 25 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.719 Hey Mark, how are you? 26 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:20.280 I'm not great a sore throat. I think I'm coming 27 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:21.120 down with a cold. 28 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:24.799 No, you should try a Vogel sore throat spray. It's 29 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.640 a natural remedy. With ecination and sage, I can treat 30 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:30.120 symptoms of coals and flus, including sore throats. 31 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.120 Perfect. I'd give that a try. 32 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.000 So we leave sore throats symptoms with a vogel a 33 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:38.840 Quena four sore throat spray made from echinasia and sage 34 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:42.000 herbs and designed to reach irritated parts of the throat, 35 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.319 available from health stores and pharmacies nationwide. 36 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:46.799 Always read the leaflet. 37 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:51.000 As long as I've got you in the giving mindset, 38 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.439 I wanted to fill you in that from our Trillology 39 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.840 episode in late August, the wonderful sight giving multiplier set 40 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.680 up accustom ologies url to donate to your favorite charity 41 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:03.439 and then split the donation with highly effective global charities. 42 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:08.000 In those few months, Oligites have raised over six hundred 43 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.759 and ninety thousand dollars via GiveDirectly dot org slash ologies. 44 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:15.360 We will link it in the show notes. You have 45 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:19.360 helped lift twenty five households out of extreme poverty, provided 46 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:24.199 fifteen hundred children's seasonal malaria prevention, given over one hundred 47 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:28.199 and twenty thousand kids, vital vitamin supplements that have saved 48 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:31.680 seventy kids lives, plus so much more good. I would 49 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.400 need a whole hour at least to list it off, 50 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.439 and through December. We're in a competition with twenty three 51 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:41.479 other podcasters, including Yale professor doctor Lori Santos of the 52 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:44.719 Happiness Lab podcast, who was in our eutamology episode. 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Astro means 62 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:23.080 celestial body or star in ancient Greek, and broma in 63 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:26.360 Greek means food, so of course space food. This ologist 64 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:29.560 is an artist and designer turned scientist who got their 65 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.680 masters in industrial design for Rizdy. They have researched space 66 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.599 food at MIT. They worked in the science division at 67 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:40.360 the nat Geo Society. They've sent Miso to ferment on 68 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.560 the International Space Station. They've studied solar ovens in Norway, 69 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.159 looked at breadmaking in space, and attended the UNS meeting 70 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.840 of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. 71 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:55.599 They also found it an initiative called Fieldscape that connects 72 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.759 artists and scientists to work creatively and collaboratively, which is great. 73 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:03.159 We'll talk about that intersection as well as powdered meats, 74 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:08.599 orange breakfast beverages, Martian gardening, espresso, and zero g how 75 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:13.280 eating without gravity is like having COVID canned stews, stinky roommates, 76 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:18.040 contraband corn beef, velcrow fatigue, wearing a space helmet on 77 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.079 the roller coaster of a parabolic flight, and the Future 78 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:25.279 of Food with artist, researcher, space food expert and thus 79 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:28.079 astrobromatologist Maggie Coblenz. 80 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:47.920 Maggie Coblentz, she here. 81 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.279 I talked to so many people, Maggie. I asked them 82 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:54.279 about their jobs, and you have one of the weirdest. 83 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:59.879 It's so cool, it's so like space food, Like, who 84 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.920 who does that? And the answer is Maggie. That's nuts. 85 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:07.639 Does it come up at dinner parties? Does it come 86 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:10.680 up at like let me introduce you to Maggie. She 87 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.879 wears a helmet on a vomit comet to smell sizzling 88 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.959 mirror plot? Does that come up? 89 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:20.680 It? Does? I have a lot of names from friends 90 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:24.360 space Maggie. I have a friend who calls me astrogue, astronomer, 91 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:25.519 space witch. 92 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:31.120 We have a friend who works at NASA who works 93 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.959 in spectroscopy. We call her the Mistress of space rainbows. Oh, 94 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.720 I like, and I think that just reads you're very 95 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.079 well loved. I feel like the question you must get 96 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.319 the most is like, how can I do this? Does 97 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:44.319 that come up a lot? 98 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.079 Yeah? Or I think it's more just this maybe bewilderment. 99 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:52.399 How did you come to do what you do? Or yeah, 100 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:54.680 why do you do what you do. I'm not sure 101 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.959 how many people are aspiring space food experts, but there's 102 00:05:58.959 --> 00:05:59.959 always a lot of questions. 103 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.480 When The Martian came out, did you feel like that's it. 104 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:06.480 I'm going to talk about potatoes to acquaintances for the 105 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:07.240 rest of my life. 106 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.040 It's been forty eight souls since I planted the potatoes, 107 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.439 so now it's time to reap and resow. 108 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:16.199 They grew even better than I expected. I now have 109 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:19.920 four hundred healthy potato plants. I thought that was so cool. 110 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:23.040 I was just so excited that the Martian was actually 111 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:27.240 interviewing space food experts and bringing research into their process. 112 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:29.720 So I felt like, okay, this is There's a lot 113 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:31.519 of directions one could take this. 114 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.680 Okay quick aside. Andy wears twenty eleven book The Martian 115 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:38.079 was made into a movie in twenty fifteen, and in it, 116 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.639 Matt Damon tried to grow potatoes on Mars. Afterward, NASA 117 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:45.800 consulted with the International Potato Center to see if this 118 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.079 could be done, because it would be helpful to have 119 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:52.560 potatoes on Mars. So they tried with this Mars esque 120 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:57.240 soil from Peru, but Mars dirt is toxic to human 121 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:00.959 and plant life. So five years later, in twenty twenty one, 122 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:05.720 this astrophysics professor figured out that certain bacteria might gobble 123 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:10.199 up the toxic compounds in Mars soil, and as of 124 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:14.639 a twenty twenty four article titled Detoxifying Mars the Biocatalytic 125 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:19.319 Elimination of omnipresent Perchlorates, NASA announced that it'll try this 126 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:23.800 method for cleaning the soil and the mostly subterranean ice 127 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:28.399 on Mars. So perhaps space taters might one day be 128 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:31.439 on the menu when we bail on this planet. So 129 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:36.360 science it imitates art. Now you also you have a 130 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.519 background in art and design too. How did this all 131 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.879 kind of come about? It's a really wide general question, 132 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:46.399 and I'm sorry, but I literally don't know even where 133 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.120 to begin because it's so cool. 134 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.480 Sometimes I also don't know where to begin. But it's 135 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:53.639 true for me, it fits, but it also feels like 136 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:57.120 a little bit of a jump. I think space is 137 00:07:57.240 --> 00:07:59.639 changing so much, the field of space, so it's not 138 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:02.680 just scientist, engineers, technologists, but there's a lot of different 139 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:07.319 disciplines who are contributing. My goal in starting this research 140 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.639 it never was not actually to get a job although 141 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.279 that's where I landed with space food. I was approaching 142 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:17.519 it very much with the designers or industrial designers lends 143 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.079 and looking at how do people live in space? I 144 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:23.839 thought that was such a weird question and really stretched 145 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.720 my imagination. So investigating the design of the International Space 146 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:30.720 Station and how it's built, what's inside, what kind of 147 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:32.960 furniture do they have, what are the space suits like, 148 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.879 what is the food like? How does this inform the 149 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.240 way that they can conduct their work, how they bring 150 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:41.799 culture up there, the systems in place, who's allowed to go, 151 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.000 who's not allowed to go because of these different designed 152 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:48.720 objects in zero gravity? And how everything flips on its 153 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:51.399 head once you get to space. So, as a designer, 154 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:54.080 an artist, someone who loves to make things, this entire 155 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.679 process changes in zero G. So with food, it's fluid dynamics. 156 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:00.559 Do you need to be strapped to the wall while 157 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:02.799 you eat or while you conduct to your work? This 158 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:04.759 was my entry point as a designer. 159 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.639 Do they have models on the ground of the space 160 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:11.039 station for you to kind of conceptualize or do you 161 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:15.120 have to go based on renderings and cat and photos. 162 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:17.399 For me, I was going off of photos when I 163 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:21.440 started this investigation. So I was looking at things online 164 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:25.120 and interviewing people and a lot of anecdotal insights from 165 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:29.039 astronauts just to describe in their own words what this 166 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.799 space looked like. And then testing came later when I 167 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:34.879 joined a new research lab and started to have access 168 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:36.919 to things like zero G flights. 169 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.440 There must be so much velcrow, right. 170 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:44.200 There's a lot of velcrow. Everything's strapped down. But one 171 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:46.960 of my favorite stories about the ISS, it actually didn't 172 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.600 even include a dining table at first. So it was 173 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:53.559 just thought that these humans almost treated like robots. We're 174 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:56.159 just gonna go up there, float around, velcrow their food 175 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.879 to the walls, strap themselves to the walls while they ate. 176 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.559 And of course, naturally human beings want to gather. They 177 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.320 want to have a place to come together and enjoy 178 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.960 this very limited break in their day. And so one 179 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.600 day an astronaut just found some scrap piece of material 180 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.879 and strapped it to the wall to make a table, 181 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:17.879 which really has no practical use in space, as you say, 182 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.639 like you need valkro, you can't just have something sitting 183 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:23.519 on a table. But still it was this human nature 184 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:27.720 to have some kind of design intervention or a meal 185 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.639 and for socializing with their fellow crewmates. 186 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.200 As you can see, this is an open concept. I 187 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:42.039 imagine that your work has to encompass anthropology, technology, physiology, 188 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:48.519 gastro entyrology fromtology like it must involve so many different disciplines. 189 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:51.559 Coming from an artistic background, is that part of what 190 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.840 is exciting about it is that kind of learning and tinkering. 191 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.399 Yeah, indeed I borrow pieces from all of these different 192 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:03.080 fields ologies to create something new. 193 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.679 What are they eating up there? In general? I always 194 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:10.000 feel like if you grew up, you know, pre two thousand, 195 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.120 like you might have heard of astronauts drink and a 196 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:15.200 lot of tangs do some things you do in space. 197 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.799 They drank Tang. They mixed it like this in a 198 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:20.799 zero G punch because with no gravity it would fly 199 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:21.240 all over. 200 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:23.200 You don't have that problem. 201 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.320 So Tang was born in nineteen fifty seven. It was 202 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:29.960 created by food daddy William Mitchell, who also made such 203 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.080 frankin foods as cool Whip, Quickset, Jello and the eternally 204 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:38.120 baffling pop Rocks. Now the parent company General Foods had 205 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:43.480 military contracts, no surprise, and in tests shelf stable Tang 206 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.600 with its sugar multed extra and vitamin C helped mask 207 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.559 the taste of the space capsule water supply. So in 208 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:55.879 the early nineteen sixties, Tang was sent into space and 209 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.519 John Glenn thus became an astro influencer, and tank took 210 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:04.519 off like a rocket. Now, in twenty thirteen, NASA's Apollo 211 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.480 eleven buzz Aldrin astronaut publicly stated during an awards show, 212 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.759 Tang sucks. When you sort of started this and you 213 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:14.399 started logging, okay, like, how are they eating? What are 214 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.440 they eating now? What was the baseline? What were they eating? 215 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.279 The history of space food is so fascinating that the 216 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:24.919 different space agencies have their own dining modules or their 217 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.639 own cooking equipment, So NASA and the European Space Agency 218 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:32.639 seem to share different systems for preparing food on the 219 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:34.320 ground to go up to space, and then how do 220 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:38.480 you actually prepare the food in space? So originally it 221 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:42.440 was canned, which is extremely heavy and not the most practical, 222 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.320 although it is a mode of preserving food. But this 223 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.200 is heavy and costly to actually get to space. So 224 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.679 at some point we're creating freeze dried foods. So this 225 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:54.559 is just a dried food like Tang, but it's not 226 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.159 always powdered form. It usually looks more like a sponge. 227 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:00.240 I actually have some sitting in front of me right now. 228 00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:04.399 So it's a burger paddy that's been snapped in half 229 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.759 and packed into this plastic wrap with all of the 230 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:11.399 liquid removed from it, so it weighs practically nothing. A 231 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.519 tiny circle of velcrow on the side, so an astronaut 232 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:17.120 could attach it to a wall, and there's a barcode 233 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.960 on it. Because astronauts are everything that they eat is 234 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:22.799 monitored from the ground, so they would scan in what 235 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:27.360 they eat so that their nutritionists could supervise this for them. 236 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:30.480 And it tells you how much water to add, So 237 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:32.559 there's a little spout on the top of the package, 238 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.879 and they would attach it to something called the rehydration station, 239 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:39.240 which is on the International Space Station. It's something almost 240 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:42.840 like ninety or ninety nine percent of the water that's 241 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:47.120 used is recycled from human urine, human perspiration, and then 242 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:50.080 that gets processed and you put that back into your 243 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:53.039 food as a warmer hot water, and then let it 244 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:56.960 sit and cut the package open with scissors and eat 245 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:59.000 it directly from the bag. So a lot of these 246 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:03.200 foods are modeled that MREs, which are military rations. 247 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:10.120 So quick background, given the astronomical shipping costs to destination orbit, 248 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:14.679 the price to ship water up there is roughly eighty 249 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:19.519 three thousand dollars per gallon, So you got to recycle, folks. 250 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:25.639 The International Space Station's WPA, or water processor assembly, involves 251 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:30.360 harvesting water vapor, and then that's in conjunction with a UPA, 252 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:35.159 which is short for urine processor assembly. Don't you dare, wretch, 253 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:37.600 don't do it. I hate to break it to you. 254 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:39.919 Where do you think your water comes from a huge 255 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:44.240 sparklets barrel in heaven? No, dude, your nw gene is 256 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:47.519 filled with liquid that used to be frog snot and 257 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:52.240 cruise ship toilets and elephant tiers. So, according also to 258 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.960 a twenty twenty three space dot Com article titled NASA 259 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.799 just recycled ninety eight percent of all astronaut p and 260 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:02.960 sweat on the ISS and engineers are thrilled. The end 261 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:08.279 result of this water reclamation is far superior to what 262 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:12.399 municipal water systems produce on the ground. So yeah, if 263 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:17.039 you drink a glass of earthling tap water with your 264 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:21.159 MRI or meal ready to eat, it is technically grosser 265 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:24.720 than what they eat miles above the planet. They're like, 266 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.480 it's war chow exactly, do it right, shut up and 267 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:30.080 chow down exactly. 268 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:34.159 But today it's different. There's I think Lavazza sent up 269 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:37.879 an espresso machine because the coffee is again just powdered 270 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:40.279 like an instant coffee. You add water. Another company called 271 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.399 Zeroty Kitchen sent up an oven so they could bake 272 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:46.440 the first cookie. And space there's lots of people who 273 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:49.480 are trying to help these poor astronauts with food. 274 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.799 When we're talking like first space flights, I imagine this 275 00:15:52.919 --> 00:15:56.320 wasn't even a concern for decades because they were up 276 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:00.000 and back pretty quickly. Right right, when did they even 277 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:02.360 start worrying about like you're going to need a snack? 278 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:05.759 Yeah? I guess it would be around the Apollo era 279 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.759 when astronauts started going to space for longer term and 280 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:11.559 they would actually need to bring days of food supply 281 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.440 and keep it in their capsule with them. And then 282 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.000 now the food plants are changing even more where the 283 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.120 current food system is supposed to last five years, and 284 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.440 they have the Deep Space Food program at NASA at 285 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:24.279 least to start to think about what is food for 286 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:28.360 Mars and what are the challenges associated with preparing those foods. 287 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.080 How will different space environment conditions impact the food? Will 288 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:35.279 it degrade? Will the color, a texture, nutrition value change? 289 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:39.440 For these trips where the return date is not even known. 290 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.039 So the Deep Space Food Challenge concluded in twenty twenty 291 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:46.440 four and the three winners were a professor and student 292 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:50.240 team from UC Riverside who invented no lux which means 293 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:54.600 without light to grow plants and fungi in a dark 294 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:59.360 little chamber using acetate to stimulate growth instead of light. 295 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:03.799 And another winner of this challenge was this nifty contraption 296 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:11.039 called SATED which stands for safe appliance, tidy, efficient and 297 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:16.759 delicious okay, and it uses centrifugal force to press food 298 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:21.680 against a heated cylinder, thus enabling the layering of foods 299 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:25.480 such as the coveted slice of zaw in space. But 300 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:28.839 the grand prize of the Deep Space Food Challenge went 301 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.640 to this Florida team who created something called NUCLEUS. Again 302 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:36.640 they love an acronym. It stands for nutritional closed loop 303 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:41.319 Eco unit system and that helps farm greens and vegetables 304 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.680 and edible bugs with minimal effort from the crew. It's 305 00:17:44.759 --> 00:17:47.640 kind of a set it and forget it ron Popeel situation. 306 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.640 At that point, are they trying to terraform and grow, 307 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.480 you know, Matt Damon potatoes in a bubble. 308 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.960 Sometimes I'm sitting in a room and I don't know 309 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.039 if I'm on a set of a science fiction film 310 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:04.039 or if I'm actually in a real science meeting, because 311 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:07.559 you think, is this really what's happening right now? There's 312 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.680 the veggie project on the ISS that's growing fresh ingredients 313 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.680 in space, but these are really just herbs and little 314 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:17.599 pieces of lettuce that are more for emotional well being. 315 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:20.240 To add a sprig to your food. It's unrealistic that 316 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:23.880 an astronaut could truly sustain themselves off of what is 317 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:26.759 possible to grow in space, at least with what technology 318 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:27.480 we have now. 319 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:32.319 And this suitcase sized ISS garden launched in twenty fourteen, 320 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.079 and it's grown mizuna mustard, red Russian kale, some edible 321 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.559 Zinia flowers, and some Chinese cabbage. So it's just nice 322 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:43.920 to have a sprig here and there. But it is 323 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:47.799 no hometown buffet salad bar, because you are very far 324 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.880 from a hometown and NASA does not have the budget 325 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:53.839 for all you can eat. Also, hometown buffet doesn't even 326 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.759 exist anymore since the start a COVID people were knocked 327 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:02.160 down with just a plexiglass sneeze guard. So America's favorite 328 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:06.000 unlimited cafeteria experience went belly up. Did do you have 329 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:08.480 to look through a lot of research on what did 330 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:11.519 the astronauts say? Were they like this is dog shit? 331 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:13.279 Like I couldn't even eat this? 332 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:18.920 So for me, it was more interviews anecdotal reports from astronauts, 333 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:22.799 mostly Lisa NASA astronauts, and oftentimes when interviewing them, they 334 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:24.839 sort of start off by saying, you know, food doesn't matter. 335 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.599 This was my life dream to go to space. I 336 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.720 was perhaps trained in the military, and it's no concern 337 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.200 for me because I'm just in space. 338 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:34.400 I'm just happy to be here. 339 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.160 But then you get a little bit deeper into the 340 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:42.200 conversation and then the complaining starts. It's horrible and they 341 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:44.759 don't have anywhere to put their food waste, so they 342 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.640 get this tremendous food fatigue because they have to eat 343 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.880 their food out of this plastic and they can't just 344 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.960 throw it out because it could raw or even you know, combust, 345 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.359 so they actually have to lick all of the packages 346 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.720 clean after every single meal. There's no fridge to store 347 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:04.119 their leftovers. One Italian astronaut, Paulinispali, told me the chocolate's horrible, 348 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.319 So he's complaining about the chocolates and the truth comes 349 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:08.160 out eventually. 350 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:11.240 If you're thirsty for more tea made from used water, 351 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.359 let's peer into the September twenty twenty five article from 352 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:19.359 Frontiers in Psychology titled Food Acceptability and Selection by Astronauts 353 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:22.720 on International Space Station Mission Informed Strategies and Risks for 354 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:28.200 Deep Space Exploration, which surveyed fifteen astronauts on the International 355 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:32.559 Space Station. What are some takeaways? The breakfast foods and 356 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:36.599 the lack of vegetables sucked the most and quote astronauts 357 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.519 limited their menu selections to personal favorites early in the 358 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:43.839 mission and did not consume foods they did not like, 359 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:47.920 a habit that could compromise nutritional intake. And this is 360 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:51.880 nothing new. As far back as the nineteen sixty three 361 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.720 Mercury flight, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper was served the first 362 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:01.279 freeze dried meals, and through his thirty four mission he 363 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:05.119 ate only seven hundred of the twenty four hundred calories 364 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:08.359 available to him. So space food is that the ultimate 365 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:14.079 appetite suppressant? Unfortunately sometimes yes. So the twenty seventeen study 366 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.119 Initial Assessment of the nutritional quality of the space food 367 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:20.119 system over three years of ambient storage in the journal 368 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:26.400 Microgravity indicated that potassium, calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin K 369 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:30.759 concentrations in space food may not be adequate even before storage, 370 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.640 and then during storage they observed the degradation of it, 371 00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:38.160 so decreases in certain vitamins just from sitting around. And 372 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:41.160 there was a twenty twenty five article in Nature titled 373 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:45.160 Feeding the Cosmos, Tackling Personalized Space Nutrition and the Leaky 374 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.079 Gut Challenge, And I was like what? And that found 375 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:54.200 evidence that suggested increased intestinal permeability referred to as leaky 376 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:59.440 gut syndrome, which further disrupts nutrient absorption and immune regulation. 377 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:04.519 How does one fix that? The authors propose bioengineering some 378 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:09.839 really nutrient dense crops, adding antioxidants to the meals, and 379 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:16.200 tailoring foods two specific astronauts genomes. Now, if there were 380 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:19.759 a YELP for NASA, what would the reviews say? We're lucky? 381 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:23.839 Because in that food acceptability study, I mentioned before. Astronauts, 382 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:26.920 who were identified anonymously, I guess so as not to 383 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:32.079 hurt anyone's feelings, dished up their real thoughts, and one remarked, 384 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.960 there are not enough vegetables and fruit and these go fast. 385 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.519 Too much nuts, and too much soup, so we're always 386 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:43.119 down to just soup and nuts. Haha, they said, because 387 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:47.680 vegetables and fruit get eaten more quickly. Astronaut B said, 388 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:51.119 I have noticed that items are becoming a bit dull variety, 389 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:53.119 and new foods at this point in the mission is 390 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:58.160 a most welcome addition. Jay begged for sauces, saying almost 391 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:04.680 everything could benefit from condom. Astronaut BE again submitted some remarks, hmm, 392 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.920 it read like the confessional booth on a reality show. 393 00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:11.200 I'm living for them, bitching that I have a crew 394 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.759 member that is eating a specific diet because of their 395 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.960 food choices, we burn through many of the foods I 396 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:22.279 like very quickly. The perceived variety is reduced and the 397 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:26.400 repetition of food selections is increased. This specific diet by 398 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:30.079 one crew member, they said, has an adverse effect on 399 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.799 the rest of the crew. So imagine someone stealing your 400 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.440 kische from the employee frigid work, but you are two 401 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:40.519